Goodman Fielder has joined some of Australia’s biggest food industry participants as a founding signatory to the Australian Food Pact, launched 20 October, 2021.
The Australian Food Pact is a voluntary agreement which aims to tackle Australia’s $36.6 billion food waste challenge.
At Goodman Fielder, our focus is firmly on waste avoidance through to reuse across food production, sales and in the home.
Through process improvement, capital investment and focusing on behaviour we are reducing food waste in our bakeries. Excess product fit for human consumption is donated to Foodbank, equating to over 1 million meals annually, and other bread waste is either converted into bread crumb or processed as stockfeed.
Through this work we have largely eliminated bread waste to landfill (or compost) right up to the point of sale. While this is a great achievement, there are still big opportunities to improve.
As evidenced in research undertaken by Food Innovation Australia Limited, 30% of food waste in Australia is generated in the home, so in 2020 we launched a mini loaf across both Wonder and Helga’s brands and our Pampas #repiecling campaign has also inspired a network of consumers to reimagine their leftovers.
We are proud of these efforts and believe the Pact aligns with our passion for tackling food waste, which, as an organisation we have committed to halving by 2030.
Launched by Federal Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Sussan Ley MP and led by Stop Food Waste Australia (SFWA), the Australian Food Pact represents one of the biggest, most tangible demonstrations so far in helping the Australian Government reach its target of halving food waste by 2030.
SFWA Chief Operating Officer Mr Mark Barthel says similar voluntary agreements overseas, such as the UK’s Courtauld Commitment, have successfully reduced food waste at scale.
“Overseas experience shows that voluntary agreements work and based on the heartening response from our food industry to the Australian Food Pact, it will work here as well,” Mr Barthel says.“By joining the Australian Food Pact, signatories will be able to improve profitability, respond to supply risks, provide innovative solutions, be more competitive, and provide quality products with lower environmental impacts.”
Goodman Fielder joins Woolworths, Coles, Simplot and other founding signatories for the Australian Food Pact.
For more on the Australian Food Pact: https://www.stopfoodwaste.com.au/australian-food-pact
