As the world population increases, the reduction of food loss and waste has become a global issue, which as a member of the food industry, we must seriously address. As the first step for the Morinaga Group, we have established long-term goals for reducing food loss and waste occurring in the stages of raw materials receipt, manufacturing, logistics and product delivery. Going forward, we will consider our efforts in the consumption stage, while contributing to the reduced occurrence of food loss and waste, improving the recycling rate and donations to food banks, in promoting a cycle and effective use of food resources.
Food loss and waste reduced by 70% from receiving of raw materials to delivery (distribution)
| Target | Result for FY2023/3 | |
|---|---|---|
| FY2031/3 | -70% | ▲49% |
In order to achieve the goal of reducing food loss and waste, we are committed to reducing food waste emissions by continuously undertaking productivity improvement activities and improving our mainstream work processes through, for example, the reduction of process losses.
The Production Headquarters has faced the challenge of reducing food loss and waste on the frozen desserts production line of Takasaki Morinaga Co., Ltd., that was newly installed in FY2021. In cooperation with the factory and related departments, we installed equipment to reduce defective products during production line operation and further optimized manufacturing conditions, reducing food loss and waste by 838 tons compared with FY2022.
Our factories are endeavoring to reduce the generation of waste and to recycle the food wastes they generated by transforming them mainly to animal feed, fertilizer, and raw materials for methane fermentation. Due to their characteristics, our product wastes are not always suitable for recycling. The Mishima Factory, Takasaki Morinaga Co., Ltd., and Morinaga Angel Dessert Co., Ltd., each have achieved a 100% recycling rate. In addition to aiming for a 100% food recycling rate at all our factories, we will strive to shift to more value-added recycling and promote the effective use of resources. However, in the future, we will continue to promote recycling by selecting food waste recyclers in a manner aligned with our products’ characteristics in order to achieve the goal of reducing food loss and waste.
Through the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Morinaga Group has declared its support for the UN Food Systems Summit held in September 2021, and has submitted its commitment towards achievement of the sustainable development goals.
Going forward, the Group will work to cut down greenhouse gas emissions, pursue sustainable raw-materials procurement, and reduce Food Loss and Waste with the aim of contributing to sustainable food systems as set forth at the Food Systems Summit, particularly to boosting nature-positive production and to the shift to sustainable consumption patterns.
The World Food Programme is the sole food-assistance organization of the United Nations, and it is dedicated to achieving zero hunger.
The Japan Association for the World Food Programme is conducting a campaign titled Zero Hunger Challenge: Food Loss and Waste x Zero Hunger under the concept of providing school meals to children in developing countries through efforts to reduce Food Loss and Waste.
The campaign is aimed at achieving a zero-hunger world in which everyone can eat, and it links people's efforts to reduce Food Loss and Waste with support for school meals for children suffering from hunger in developing countries.
We have been donating to this campaign since FY2021/3.
Osaka Prefecture has set up a Food Loss and Waste reduction network roundtable to verify the outcomes of efforts being made on measures based on its plan to reduce Food Loss and Waste, as well as on related issues, by diverse actors including consumers, government bodies, and businesses engaged in the manufacture, wholesale, and retail of food, as well as in food services and other operations. The objective is to devise more effective reduction methods and other measures.
Morinaga has endorsed Osaka's plan from FY2022/3, and attended the first Food Loss and Waste reduction network roundtable for the fiscal year. At the meeting, we shared information on the challenges that our sales teams face on the issue of reducing Food Loss and Waste during distribution. At the 2nd Food Loss and Waste Reduction Network Roundtable held in February 2023, we proposed recipes that consumers can easily use in their daily lives as one of the methods for reducing food loss and waste.
Recipe proposal at the 2nd Food Loss and Waste Reduction Network Roundtable