Lithuanian EU commissioner shocked by food waste statistics

VILNIUS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis urged to tackle food waste in Europe and highlighted the problem's economic consequences in a speech on Tuesday.

Andriukaitis says he is shocked by food waste statistics in the EU. The commissioner says 88 million tons of food is wasted every year in Europe, which account to annual costs of around 143 billion euros (176.6 billion U.S. dollars).

"I grew up in gulag, where I used to receive food once in a few weeks, and I'm shocked by this life of excessive consumption. We had never thrown anything away," said Andriukaitis, 66, in his speech at the international conference on food waste in Vilnius, Lithuanian capital.

In his words, annual food waste per capita amounts to 173 kg.

"My weight is 81 kg, this means twice as much is being thrown away," Andriukaitis noted.

He reminded the EU has a goal to halve per capita food waste by 2030. He also urged the Lithuanian government to approve a national food waste prevention program by 2019.

In order to achieve the EU target, actions are necessary at all levels of food supply chain, said the commissioner.

Andriukaitis emphasized up to 40 percent, or the biggest part of food waste, are generated by households. He also criticized farmers and producers for wasting food due to poor esthetics.

"It's especially painful to see a substantial part of agricultural production being thrown away because carrots are knobby or potatoes are too small. Why not to give it away to schools or charity?" said Andriukaitis.

The commissioner informed the EU has prepared the guidance and methodology for the member countries to tackle food waste and achieve target of halving food waste by 2030.

According to Andriukaitis, the EU countries will have to measure food waste, implement legislation for food donation, and feed production from former foodstuffs and byproducts. Enditem