Food Supply Chain Actors’ View on Food Waste and Packaging: A Case Study on Iceberg Lettuce

Sammanfattning: Food waste is currently a significant problem in today’s society where up to one third of all produced food is wasted before being consumed. The wastage occurs throughout the whole food supply chain but the largest contribution is generated in the households.Food waste is a problem which results in negative effects on the economy, the society as well as the environment. There are a myriad of factors affecting the wastage, one of which being packaging. Reduced waste can be achieved by 13 of packaging’s 19 different features. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons for food waste in the different stages of the food supply chain, how the supply chain actors view food waste and packaging as well as how packaging can potentially reduce food waste. Furthermore, iceberg lettuce is used as a case study to provide a deeper understanding of food waste and packaging related to a specific product. The results of this study involve both food waste in general as well as iceberg lettuce waste. Based on 28 interviews with consumers, retailers, distributors and producers, the results show that all supply chain actors are aware of waste being a problem in the food industry. However, there are a number of obstacles and challenges that need to be overcome in order to reduce the wastage, such as lacking motivation, knowledge and awareness among consumers. Furthermore, actors’ failure in realizing packaging’s potential in reducing food waste, contradicting financial incentives as well as the challenge of maintaining a cold chain are also shown to be factors affecting food wastage in the supply chain. Moreover, five packaging features with the potential to reduce iceberg lettuce waste are identified.