Activities of Daciana Octavia SÂRBU related to 2016/2223(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety (debate) RO
Amendments (29)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
- having regard to the European Court of Auditors report "Combating Food Waste: an opportunity for the EU to improve the resource-efficiency of the food supply chain" (2016)1a , _________________ 1a http://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/DocIt em.aspx?did=40302.
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Stresses that food waste must be analyzed in a cross-cutting manner, as it affects several policies at the same time, including agriculture, fisheries, food safety, environment, social affairs and tax policy; insists therefore on the need to better harmonize the different policies and establish the reduction of food waste as a clear objective of existing policies;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas according to the World Food Programme (WFP) 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy and active life; whereas poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) or approximately 3.1 million of deaths in children under the age of five; whereas one in six children in the world are underweight and one in four is stunted; whereas it is therefore not only an economic and environmental but also a moral obligation to reduce food waste1a ; _________________ 1a https://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats.
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Calls on the Commission to carry out an impact assessment of the different policies to tackle food waste such as agriculture, fisheries, food safety, environment or tax policy;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas reducing food waste can improve the economic situation for households without lowering the standard of living;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas food is lost or wasted at all steps of the supply and consumption chain; whereas estimates from the FUSIONS project indicate that the sectors contributing the most to food waste within the EU are households and processing10 ; whereas food waste in developing countries mainly occurs due to infrastructure and technological limitations; _________________ 10 FUSIONS, Estimates of European food waste levels, March 2016.
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Stresses the importance of bringing together farmers in cooperatives or professional associations in order to reduce food losses by strengthening their knowledge of markets, allowing more efficient programming, economies of scale and improving their capacity to market their production;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Notes that food waste is a problem at every stage of the chain, whether it is production, processing, marketing, transport or consumption; insists therefore on the need to improve communication between all actors in the food supply chain, in particular between suppliers and distributors, in order to match supply and demand, the discrepancies of which are one of the main causes of food waste;
Amendment 108 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Believes that farmer-led initiatives can offer viable economic solutions and provide value for products which might otherwise go to waste, by developing markets for products that would normally be excluded from the food chain, and highlights the potential of farmer-led social innovation projects such as gleaning and donation of excess foodstuffs to food banks;
Amendment 113 #
1. Stresses the urgent need to reduce the amount of food waste in the Union at every step of the supply and consumption chain; in this regard, underlines the importance of political leadership and commitment from both the Commission and Member States; reminds that the European Parliament repeatedly, in its resolutions from 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016, asked the Commission to take action against food waste;
Amendment 115 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Notes that the food industry has already taken initiatives to reduce food waste by strengthening cooperation with food banks throughout Europe; notes, however, that there are still barriers to donations, mainly of legal nature; calls on the Commission to clarify the interpretation of the legal provisions discouraging donations;
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7 b. Stresses that, in the context of food aid, VAT on food donations is due, but Member States may consider that the value used for the calculation of VAT is low or close to zero if the donation is made close to the recommended date of consumption or if the foodstuffs are unsaleable; notes that in practice VAT on food aid is treated differently from one Member State to another; calls, therefore, on the Commission to clarify the rules on the application of the VAT Directive in the case of food aid;
Amendment 120 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7 c. Stresses that price volatility, extreme or unusual climate events and the prolongation of the Russian embargo are responsible for food waste in the agricultural sector; stresses the importance of building bridges between farmers and food banks to encourage the development of agricultural donations;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 d (new)
Paragraph 7 d (new)
7 d. Calls for the restoration of an effective policy to regulate agricultural markets in order to better match supply to demand and thus reduce food waste;
Amendment 128 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes that some wastage at farm level is also due to the role played by retailers in relation to retailer standards regarding product specifications, cancelled orders owing to changes in consumer demand, and over-production as a result of requirements to meet seasonal demands.; stresses the need to revise marketing standards for quality and aesthetics for classifying agricultural products;
Amendment 143 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Highlights the findings of the Special Report No 34 of the European Court of Auditors "Combating food waste: an opportunity for the EU to improve the use of resources in the food chain"', stressing that Commission's action regarding food waste has so far been sporadic and fragmented;
Amendment 154 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Regrets that the implementation of the Member States' obligation to report on their food waste has been delayed by the Commission, as well as the Commission's deadline to adopt an implementing act laying down a common methodology for the evaluation of the food quantities.
Amendment 159 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8 c. Regrets the lack of a common definition of 'food waste' at the European level, despite repeated calls from the European Parliament, the Council, the Committee of the Regions and the G20; calls, therefore, on the Commission to reflect on the establishment of such a definition.
Amendment 164 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8 d. Stresses that the agriculture sector has a key role to play in reducing food waste and notes with concern that the Commission has never conducted a study to determine the impact of the different reforms on the volume of agricultural production and its effect on food waste; calls, therefore, on the Commission to integrate the issue of food waste into the next review of the CAP;
Amendment 168 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8 e. Stresses the importance of the new "school schemes programmes" and in particular the introduction of compulsory accompanying measures, such as the promotion of conscious food consumption in education; stresses the importance of using these accompanying measures to convey educational messages about food waste and its prevention;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the recent creation of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste; reiterates the importance of exchanging best practices, combining knowledge and avoiding duplication with other relevant forums such as for example the EU Retail Forum on Sustainability, the European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production Roundtable, the High Level Forum for a Better Functioning Food Supply Chain, the Consumer Goods Forum;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Encourages the Commission and the Member States to engage, in cooperation with stakeholders, in improving consumers’ understanding of ‘use by’ dates and ‘best before’ dates; stresses the importance of empowering consumers in order to make informed decisions; asks the Commission to assess whether current EU legislation and current practice in use with ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates in different Member States are fit for purpose;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, to issue recommendations regarding refrigeration temperatures, based on evidence that non-optimal and improper temperature leads to food becoming prematurely inedible and causes unnecessary waste; underlines the fact that harmonised levels of temperature throughout the supply chain would improve product conservation and reduce food waste for products transported and sold cross-border;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on all actors in the food supply chain to take their shared responsibility and implement the Joint Food Wastage Declaration 'Every Crumb Counts' and 'Retail agreement on waste'; points out that the retail sector meets millions of consumers every day, and is in a unique position to increase knowledge and raise awareness related to food waste, thereby facilitating informed choices; underlines that marketing practices such as "buy one, get one for free" increases the risk that consumers buy more than they can use; in this regard also highlights the need to offer smaller package sizes for smaller households; welcomes that some retailers sell food items with short use-by dates at discount prices but believes that practice should be more widespread;
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote successful practices of food waste reduction and resource conservation methods already used by stakeholders; encourages the Member States to reduce food waste in public establishments; in this regard emphasizes the importance of educating and engaging children to minimize food waste in school canteens; asks the Quaestors to give priority to actions to reduce food waste in the European Parliament and encourages other European institutions to follow;
Amendment 256 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to use European development funds to improve the food chain infrastructure to reduce food waste in developing countries;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. Welcomes the establishment of "Social Grocery Shops", as well as public and private partnerships with charity organizations, to make the best possible use of edible but not sellable food;
Amendment 306 #
14a. Calls on restaurants, catering services and public establishments to make available to-go boxes and encourage customers to bring their leftovers home;
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Considers the digital revolution and innovation a possibility to further reduce food waste; believes that collaborative economy services such as co-cooking, smart packaging and the Internet of things are important to increase awareness and promote sustainable consumption;