Shifa Rahaman
January 25th, 2016

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Waste not, want not (photo: Love Food Hate Waste NZ)

The Environment and Food Ministry has just announced a new initiative to counteract the amount of food wasted by Danish kitchens, which it estimates to total 30,000 tonnes every year in Denmark.

In connection with the non-profit consultancy group Teknologisk Instituts’s new AgroTech division, the ministry plans to send out madspildsjægere (literal translation: food waste hunters) to Danish kitchens, hospitals, canteens and institutions in a bid to lower this figure.

Who you gonna call? Food waste hunters!
The inspectors will visit kitchens where they will document food waste over a three-week period using a weblog. They will then hold seminars to instruct employees about ways to counteract food waste, which will then be put into practice on a day-to-day basis.

“Catering already has a great focus on reducing food waste,” said Anette Gravgaard, a department head at Teknologisk Institut.

“But our experience shows that new eyes at work allow for a further reduction of wasted produce. It may be that it turns out that the kitchens send out portions that are too large or that raw materials are discarded when they can actually be used for other meals or ingredients.”

Every year, Danes throw out over 700,000 tonnes of food – the equivalent of wasting about 11.6 billion kroner. Danish households are responsible for 260,000 tonnes of the total.