(ANSA) - ROME, JANUARY 26 - Italy is in first place in the world in the fight against waste at home, a record achieved thanks to the actions taken, while in the production chain just 2% of food is lost.
This is confirmed by the Fsi, Food sustainabilityindex 2021 developed by The Economist Impact with the Barilla Foundation, which analyzes the food-health-environment link in 78 countries through 38 indicators.
In Italy it is estimated that the annual per capita food waste at home level is about 67Kg, 26 kg in catering, while 4kg in distribution, the lowest figure recorded among the countries analyzed by the index.
"Italy can be taken as a reference in the fight against food waste, a problem that globally concerns a third of the food produced", declares the director of the Barilla Foundation Research, Marta Antonelli, specifying that as regards the loss of food from field to table , Italy is in second place after Canada, also thanks to the strategies and policies implemented to counter the phenomenon.
Among these is the Gadda Law which facilitated, also through tax concessions, the donation of food surpluses to non-profit organizations, which increased by 21% in the first year of its entry into force.
A regulatory intervention recognized as a best practice worldwide.
Among the other parameters highlighted by the index, Italy's good results in terms of quality and life expectancy at European level and the low level of under nutrition or child malnutrition.
Although food waste is a global problem, less than a third (28%) of the countries analyzed show that they have a dedicated strategy.
In this context, the five countries with the best policies in place are France, Italy, the United States, Germany and Argentina.
Worldwide, food losses among the top 19 classifieds do not exceed 3% of total food production, compared to the general average of 6%.
Domestic food waste is also below average (85 kg of wasted food per capita per year) in almost 40 FSI countries.
(HANDLE).