Food waste in Romania. We are poor, but we throw away food.

9.7.2018

Question for written answer E-003750-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Daniel Buda (PPE)

We are poor Europeans, but we actually throw away more food than others. Research shows that we spend about half our monthly income on food, and that 6 000 tonnes of it end up in the bin every day. Food is everything! We can do without going to town, to the cinema, or buying new clothes, as long as our fridges are full. We buy anything and everything, but we cannot eat it all, so the food goes off, exceeds its use-by date and goes straight into the bin. This is a typically Romanian trait. The figures show that although we are poor, 40% of our income is spent on food.

EU statistics show that Romania has the ninth highest level of food waste in Europe (2.55%), equating to 2.2 million tonnes of food lost every year, or over 6 000 tonnes per day. Countries that waste even more food than us include the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Poland and Belgium.

Would the Commission consider setting up an EU-wide programme to tackle the phenomenon of food waste?