Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will have discussions with major (a) supermarkets and (b) food retailers on reducing food waste.

Defra engages with retailers on a regular basis as part of ongoing efforts to ensure alignment on key policies. This includes regular bilateral conversations with individual organisations and forums that include all the major supermarkets. Agendas are adjusted according to priorities.

Defra supports the Courtauld Commitment, an industry-led initiative delivered by the Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP), which has a target of 50% per capita reduction in food waste by 2030 against the UK’s 2007 baseline. Membership of Courtauld includes all the major retailers and their trade organisation, the British Retal Consortium (BRC). Defra engages in Courtauld’s collaborative approach, attending working group discussions with industry on how to tackle food waste in the supply chain.