LIFE FOSTER is out in the Sunday Circle by Times of Malta

FOOD

Love Food, Reduce Waste

THE MALTA BUSINESS BUREAU AND THE INSTITUTE OF TOURISM STUDIES HAVE JOINED FORCES TO LOWER FOOD WASTE IN THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR. HERE, IGGY FENECH FINDS OUT HOW LIFE FOSTER, WHICH IS CO-FINANCED BY THE EU COMMISSION LIFE PROGRAMME, AIMS TO ACHIEVE ITS GOALS.

It may be hard to believe but, at a time when we are constantly reminded that our planet is suffering due to our excesses, we are still throwing away 30 per cent of the food produced to feed us. Indeed, it is estimated that each person in Europe, North America and in other developed regions of the world wastes some 95 to 115 kilos of food per year – scary figures, particularly when compared to the six to 11 kilos people in sub-Saharan Africa and south and south-east Asia waste in the same time span (statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).

2 Sunday Circle ∫ AUGUST 2019

So, in 2015, the European Commission (EC) intensified its commitment to reduce food wastage, and the strategy it came up with is an incredibly ambitious one: halve food wastage in the European Union (EU) within 15 years.

As the clock started ticking towards 2030, private and public entities started working together on achieving this and, with project funding provided by the EC, the LIFE FOSTER project came into being. Today, it is implemented in France, Italy, Spain and Malta.

“As the EU advisory office of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association and the Malta Chamber of

FOOD doing so in two ways: firstly, by changing the mindset and practices of the chefs and kitchen staff currently working in the industry and, secondly, by preparing the upcoming generation. For that reason, the MBB quickly teamed up with the Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) to set the ball rolling.

The collaboration began with two ITS lecturers heading to Italy to undergo specialised training delivered by the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG), which is one of LIFE FOSTER’s main partners. While there, the lecturers learnt scientifically-proven methods that had been researched and methodically implemented by the University.

“The research conducted highlights that the problem of food waste in the restaurant sector is a systemic one,” explains Professor Nadia Tecco from UNISG. “Waste is the outcome of a series of factors along the food service chain.

These include improper menu design and purchasing plans, oversized portions, and the lack of a sense of responsibility by customers for what they leave on their plate.

“LIFE FOSTER’s strategy, therefore, is to tackle the food waste challenge by reducing its complexity and diversity of causes through a selection process of critical variables and their cause-effect connections. The project’s training, education and communication will support the definition and spread of a modus operandi that aims to reduce food waste, while providing economic, environmental and social benefits.”

Now, with lecturers armed with the latest knowledge and techniques, MBB and ITS are working hand-in-hand on implementing the project on a nation-wide scale. Together, they are organising numerous free training sessions for kitchen staff, focusing on the best techniques to reduce food waste in restaurant kitchens. Moreover, while food waste was already part of the curriculum at ITS, the new methods and research will further help tomorrow’s chefs and kitchen staff with food waste prevention.

“According to the National Waste Management Plan for 2014-2020, around 22 per cent of the food purchased in Malta is wasted. Therefore, reducing food waste comes with great opportunities for the hospitality and food service sector,” says Claire Briffa, the Director for Corporate Services at ITS.

Commerce, we are constantly looking for new opportunities that could benefit the local business community,” says Joe Tanti, the CEO of the Malta Business Bureau (MBB).

“Moreover, sustainable development has been at the top of our agenda for a number of years, with our focus being on water conservation and energy efficiency. So, when the opportunity arose to extend our sustainability portfolio into the area of food waste, we were immediately sold.”

The main objective behind LIFE FOSTER is the creation of a national system that sees a substantial reduction in food waste in restaurants and hotel kitchens, and it works on

“This project will now continue building on what our students were already being taught and will see them focus on the three effective ways that can lead to food waste reduction in industrial kitchens: technology to help in kitchen management, accurate forecast of future demand to prepare the optimal amount of food, and reusing leftover food to sell it instead of throwing it away.”

These students and kitchen staff are not alone in learning from this research, either. As a project, LIFE FOSTER is set to impact 70 Vocational Education and Training centres, 200 policy-makers, 500 trainers, 3,600 companies, 7,000 students and 10,000 professionals across the four participating EU countries. And, it seems, the project has already been received incredibly well.

“So much so that we, together with ITS and other strategic national authorities, have decided to extend our efforts through a national awareness-raising campaign for businesses and their employees, focusing on the issue of AUGUST 2019 ∫ Sunday Circle 3

FOOD

food waste and what each of us can do to help combat it,” explains Gabriel Cassar, MBB’s Project Manager for LIFE FOSTER. “In fact, as we work on implementing this project, businesses are also continuing to realise that these sustainable practices are not only environmental, ethical and necessary, but that, all too often, they also make a lot of financial sense and will ultimately help them boost the efficiency of their operations.”

While the LIFE FOSTER project officially comes to an end in 2021, its impact is sure to be felt for years to come as wave after wave of ITS students enter the catering and hospitality industries. Nevertheless, the buck can’t stop with them, and as all interviewees agreed, we all need to pitch in whether we are at home, at a restaurant or staying at a hotel. www.lifefoster.eu

Reducing food waste at home WITH PROFESSOR FRANCO FASSIO FROM UNISG • Plan ahead! Once a week, take some time to plan what you will be eating during the following seven days, and only buy the ingredients you need.

• Buy wisely! Buy a small quantity of food so you can easily store and manage it. Also, keep in mind that fresh and local is always better.

• Clean your of refrigerators and freezers! It extends the lifetime of the appliances, reduces energy costs, and prevents food spoilage.

• Be creative with food! Use leftovers to create a whole new meal.

• Be a champion of nose-to-tail eating! Don’t always go for the steak or the best cut of meat; instead opt for the lesser-known cuts, which are cheaper and, more often than not, still very tasty.