Tesco has announced partnership agreements with 24 of its largest food suppliers, including Moy Park, 2 Sisters Food Group, Hilton and Samworth Brothers among others, who will adopt the UN Sustainable Development Goal to halve food waste by 2030.
Speaking at a meeting of Champions 12.3 in New York, Tesco’s CEO, Dave Lewis, said that the suppliers, who represent over £17 billion worth of Tesco sales, will publish food waste data for their own operations within 12 months.
Champions 12.3 is a coalition of leaders from government, businesses, international organisations, research institutions, and civil society, chaired by Lewis, dedicated to accelerating progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Target 12.3 by 2030.
The suppliers have also committed to take “the steps needed to reduce food waste in their supply chain as well as innovating to make it easier for consumers to reduce waste in their homes”, according to Tesco.
In his speech, Lewis commented: “Great progress has been made, but the reality is that we need many more companies, countries or cities committing to halve food waste by 2030, measuring and publishing their data and acting on that insight to tackle food waste.
“I am delighted that many of our major suppliers have taken this important step so we can work in partnership to reduce food waste.”
The supermarket retailer said in a statement that the supplier agreement is the first struck between a major retailer and its food suppliers, following agreements over the last 12 months at The Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) and Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) with branded suppliers to align efforts around Champions 12.3 goals.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.