Sustainability Summit tackles food security & waste

LONDON – Food security and waste are focal themes of the North American edition of the Sustainable Foods Summit. With the US experiencing its most extensive and severe drought in over 25 years, the summit discusses the implications to global food supply chains and the role of sustainable agriculture in improving food security.

Taking place in San Francisco on 22-23rd January 2013, the Sustainable Foods Summit will debate various methods to improve efficiency in food supply chains. With the global population expected to rise to 9 billion in 2050, some argue the answer lies not just in increased food production levels but greater efficiency. According to the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO UN), about a third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. In the US, wastage accounts for about 121 billion pounds of food with about two-thirds going to landfill. At the same time, 48 million Americans live in households that struggle to feed themselves.

Senior executives from FAO UN, Food Waste Reduction Alliance, Whole Foods Market, Unified Grocers and Daabon Organic will discuss food waste reduction schemes, landfill diversion methods and food rescue programs in the tackling food waste session.

The summit comprises four sessions over a 2-day programme. The opening session on Sustainability Initiatives gives an update on major sustainability developments in the food industry. Following an opening keynote on the hidden costs of foods, papers will cover measuring the environmental impacts of food products and the positive role of sustainable agriculture. Michael W. Hewett from PublixSupermarkets will give the retailers’ perspective on sustainability, whilst a leading chocolate firm shares its experiences in setting up a sustainable sourcing program for cocoa. Another paper by Dennis Gillan of NSF International gives details of the CarbonFreeProduct certification program thatAir Jordan XIII Melo PE