Half of Romanian consumers waste about 25 percent of the food they buy monthly

According to the Consumer Protection Association, half of Romanian consumers waste almost 25 percent of the food products they purchase monthly, and fresh products (meat, fruit and vegetables, eggs, dairy, etc.) seem to be wasted the least,.

“Approximately 60 percent of Romanian consumers spend about 30 percent of their monthly income on food. From a financial point of view, considering that households are the biggest sources of waste (for urban consumers), Romania’s losses at the consumer level are 2-3 times larger than those of other European states, where the percentage of income spent monthly on food is a lot smaller – e.g. 14 percent in France, 10 percent in Switzerland,” according to the Association.

In the EU, about 88 million tons of food is wasted annually – about 20 percent of the total production. According to a 2013 study, the largest generators of food waste, in kilograms per capita, are the Netherlands (541 kg), Belgium (345 kg), Cyprus (327 kg), Estonia (265 kg) and the Czech Republic (81 kg).

Starting with February 2019, the law against food waste will enter into force and will require economic operators to be more responsible in order to lower food waste through measures such as selling products that are nearing their expiration dates at lower prices.

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