The latest estimate of "food loss" that is still edible but discarded was announced on the 27th, and in 2018 it was 6 million tons per year in Japan, a decrease of 120,000 tons from the previous year.
The reduction target for 2030 set by the government needs to be reduced by about 20%, and the government plans to accelerate its efforts.
This was revealed by Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Inoue at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting on the 27th.
According to this, the amount of domestic food loss is estimated in 2018 to be 3.24 million tons for business-related products such as unsold products of companies and 2.76 million tons for household-related products such as leftover food at home, totaling 6 million tons per year. This means that it has decreased by 120,000 tons compared to the previous year.
In addition, according to the results of a consumer awareness survey released at the same time, the percentage of people working to reduce food loss was 76.6% last year, an increase of more than 5 points compared to FY2018.
The national government has set a goal of halving food loss by 2030 compared to 9.8 million tons in 2000, and it will be necessary to reduce it by about 20% to achieve the target.
Minister Inoue said, "Food loss in Japan has been almost flat for the past few years, and we need to accelerate our efforts. We will further promote food loss reduction as a command tower for the entire government."