Reusing Food Waste in Food Manufacturing Companies: The Case of the Tomato-Sauce Supply Chain

The importance of reducing food loss and waste (FLW) has recently been emphasized at a European level with the amendment to the European Waste Framework Directive, according to which the effective reduction of food waste can be carried out by adopting a circularity approach that facilitates the transition to more sustainable management of materials. Likewise, the importance of concentrating on FLW produced within specific food supply chains has emerged as an effective starting point for quantifying the overall amount of wastage produced, emphasizing possible prevention actions as well as re-using and valorising waste. From this perspective, our study focuses on the tomato-sauce supply chain with a threefold aim. Firstly, to quantify the amount of FLW generated along the tomato-sauce supply chain from cultivation to retail; secondly, to understand the most important related causes; and thirdly, to assess if and to what extent FLW can be reused according to the Circular Economy (CE) approach. By adopting the Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard, the analyses focused on the production of the Barilla Tomato and Basil sauce in Italy, as well as the related inventory. It was revealed that this supply chain can be considered an example of a true circular economy, in which almost nothing is lost because more than 85% of the total FLW are valorized into alternative sectors or activities.