Australians are frequently throwing out perfectly good food because of unclear labelling leading to food waste that could cost the average household about $2,500 a year, a new report says.
The research was conducted in workshops by RMIT University and End Food Waste Australia, and aimed to find how labelling and storage advice on products could be made clearer, to avoid people throwing out food before it goes bad.
Foodbank Australia estimates Australians throw away about 7.6 million tonnes in Australia each year, which equates to about 312 kilograms of food wasted per person.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the waste equated cost the Australian economy about $36.6 billion a year, which is about $2,500 per household.
RMIT's associate professor and lead author Lukas Parker said the labelling system in Australia needed a lot of work.
"Nobody wants to throw away good food," he said.
"It's bad for their hip pocket, and most people can see that it's not a good thing to throw away food.
"We've done previous studies with the one preceding this one, where we interviewed a whole bunch of people about use by dates and best before labels, and one of the things that came out of that was that consumers said that they wanted what was best for their families.
"But [our labels] are completely confusing."
Dr Parker said the work, which has not been peer-reviewed, examined how to help people with poor eyesight or English as a second language understand food labelling.
"When we interview anybody, the first thing that people say is, 'I don't waste food,'" he said.
"But the reality is that we know that [we waste] around 2 kilograms per person per week in Australia."
How did it work?
The researchers set up workshops with a different mix of academics, designers, retailers, food producers, policymakers and consumers.
They looked at food labels that had been developed by researchers, which were different from the average best before date — including additional text cues like 'do not eat after this date', or changing colour and adding QR codes for more information.
The groups provided feedback on food labelling and what needed to improve, and what could hurt their implementation.
They then assessed the labels on what they thought would best address food waste: consumer-centric change, policy-led change and stakeholder-driven change.
What did researchers find?
Both groups preferred clear, concise and visually distinct date labels and storage advice, but there were some differences in what they prioritised.
The stakeholders — manufacturers and retailers — were more concerned about food safety, compliance and cost of change.
Consumers were more interested in how the label worked, food quality and waste reduction.
For example, consumers said they often associated QR codes with marketing and did not often use them.
However, stakeholders said they were helpful to provide more information, without sacrificing 'real estate' on the current food label.
"The industry players tended to view household food waste as a consumer responsibility, reflected by their focus on consumer education campaigns rather than addressing systemic factors within their own industry," the report said.
Researchers said households were responsible for 40 per cent of Australia's total food waste.
The report also found if there was any change to food labelling, the cost would likely be passed on to the consumer.
"The industry players were hesitant to lead efforts to address consumer confusion with date labels and storage advice, as they see no market advantage," it said.
"Further, the cost of any changes would be passed on to consumers, potentially reducing purchases."
Will anything change?
Dr Parker said the research would inform the next phase of the National Date Labelling and Storage Advice Project, which will bring together supermarkets, food brands and government to co-design, test and roll out a national framework for food labelling.
"What we have found is that industry are interested," he said.
"They can see this is coming down the line, but they are actually looking for some coordination and direction, and that's where we're hoping that we will be able to be part of that process.
"It's not easy; we've got two big supermarkets, and unless you have buy-in from both of those … it's very difficult to get something in.
"But we've seen it with other different types of strategies slowly coming on board, like the recycling logo.
"It can happen, it just it takes a lot of time."
The work has been supported by the End Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, whose activities are funded by the Australian government's Cooperative Research Centre Program.
The National Date Labelling and Storage Advice Project is also funded through the Queensland government's Recycling and Jobs Fund, Green Industries South Australia, New South Wales Environment Protection Authority, and Sustainability Victoria.
