Balancing the desire to decrease food waste with requirements of food safety

Background: Decreasing food waste has become an important area of food policy. This paper investigates the relationship between food waste reduction and food safety risks. It is a frequent question in both public and professional discussions that how the utilization of expired food stuffs and leftovers could be solved without compromising food safety. Scope and Approach: The most important food waste reduction theories and initiatives are listed and evaluated. Key Findings and Conclusions: It is challenging to find the golden rule of balance between food waste and food safety. Solutions that seem to be credible often raise the risk to consumers. In order to meet both aspects, cooperation and co-development of food chain actors (consumers and authorities as well) are needed.