Approximately 380,000 tonnes of usable food is tossed out in Croatia every year, while food waste across the EU reaches 88 million tonnes a year, said a study by the Europan Commission.

The figures were presented in the eastern Croatian city of Osijek on Wednesday at a panel discussion on a project dedicated to global learning approach on food waste in non-formal education. The project is co-funded by the European Commission and the Croatian government’s office for non-governmental organisations.

“As consumers, we often assume that most of food waste is generated by supermarkets and the hospitality industry, but about 53 percent of food is actually tossed out by households,” said Tanja Popovic-Filipovic, project coordinator for Croatia.

One-person households are the biggest generators of food waste, followed by persons who live in urban areas, families with higher incomes, and those with small children, she added.

The European Commission has set a target to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030.

Food is mostly wasted because people overestimate the amount of food needed to prepare meals, said Branka Ilakovac, head of the Centre for Food Waste Prevention.

“The second reason is buying too much food on discount, which expires very quickly, and the third reason is that many people lack the knowledge on how to make use of leftovers, which they just put in the fridge and forget about them, ultimately throwing them out,” Ilakovac said.

“There are two labels on products – “best before” and “expiry date”, and many people do not understand what those dates mean. We are currently conducting research on four product categories related to their expiry date, which will be published on the occasion of World Food Day on October 16,” said Darja Sokolić, head of Croatian Food Agency (HAH).

Some headway has been made to reduce food waste in Croatia, such as a rise in the value of food donations by 1.5 million kuna (€201,819) in 2017 from 2016, said senior official in the Croatian Agriculture Ministry, Jelena Djugum, adding that the ministry was planning new measures to encourage supermarkets to donate food projects to reduce food waste.

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