Descrizione 1
Giulio Vulcano
Systemic food wastage in the Italian food system amounts to 66% of the total food energy produced. There has been a 17% increase in food wastage compared to 2015, measured in kilocalories per person per day. This situation remains far from institutional targets of halving or significantly reducing food wastage by 2030.
The indicator estimates the overall wastage within the food system (systemic food waste) in Italy. It aggregates data on several major forms of waste: food loss and wastage (commonly referred to as "food wastage"), overeating, and net edible losses from animal farming.
Pre-supply wastage includes losses occurring from the point of extraction (harvesting, hunting, fishing, etc.) through the stages of storage, transport, processing, and wholesale distribution.
Post-supply waste refers to discarded food at the retail and consumer levels.
Average overeating is calculated in relation to the recommended dietary intake set by international health organizations.
Wastage in animal farming refers to the net edible loss occurring in the conversion of feed (potentially edible for humans) into animal-based food products.
Estimate the overall waste in the food system (systemic food wastage) in Italy, identifying the different forms of wastage that contribute to it. Understand food wastage from a systemic/holistic perspective, enabling its complex interrelation with food system processes and their environmental and social impacts.
The indicator also aims to support and inform strategies and practices for the socio-ecological resilience of food systems.
SDG 12.3 of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to halve per capita global food waste (measured in kcal/person/day) at the retail and consumer levels by 2030, and to reduce food losses (measured in kcal/person/day) along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses. The baseline for these targets is 2015.
Target 16 of the Global Biodiversity Framework (under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity) reflects SDG 12.3 with respect to per capita food waste at the retail and consumer stages.
EU Directive 2018/851 also calls for contributing to the achievement of SDG 12.3.
SDG 12.3 is also linked to the Strategic Objective IV.1 and IV.5 of Italy’s National Strategy for Sustainable Development (Deliberation of the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning, no. 1 of 18 September 2023 ), which respectively aims to “Dematerialize the economy, reduce waste production and promote the circular economy” and "Ensure the sustainability of agriculture and forestry across the entire supply chain".
Law no. 166/2016: "Provisions on the donation and distribution of food and pharmaceutical products for social solidarity and to limite wastage", promotes the recovery and redistribution of surplus food and medicine.
The National Waste Prevention Programme (adopted by the Ministry of the Environment by decree of 7 October 2013) includes, under Measure III, the promotion of short food supply chains as a strategy for food wastage prevention.
Descrizione 2
CREA, 2023, Report 2023 dell'Osservatorio sulle eccedenze, recuperi e sprechi alimentari, Consiglio per la Ricerca e l'Economia Agraria
Di Veroli et al., 2024, Food waste behaviors of the families of the Cilento Bio-District in comparison with the national data: elements for policy actions, Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 8:1385700, doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1385700
EEA, 2021, Growth without economic growth, Briefing paper No. 28/2020
FAO, 2023, Tracking progress on food and agriculture-SDG indicators 2023
ISPRA, Vulcano G., Ciccarese L., 2017, "Spreco alimentare: un approccio sistemico per la prevenzione e la riduzione strutturali – Rapporto di sintesi", Rapporti 267/2017
ISPRA, Vulcano G., Ciccarese L., 2019, "Spreco alimentare: un approccio sistemico per la prevenzione e la riduzione strutturali", Rapporti 279/2018, ISBN 978-88-448-0882-2
Smil V., 2004, Improving efficiency and reducing waste in our food system, Environmental sciences, 1(1), pp. 17-26
Stuart T., 2009, Waste: uncovering the global food scandal, Penguin
SNPA, Vulcano G, 2019, "Approccio sistemico alla definizione dello spreco alimentare", in “Rapporto ambiente - SNPA. Edizione 2018. Doc. n. 07/2019”, SNPA, Rapporti 07/2019
Vulcano, 2024, "Reti agroecologiche e mutuali, scenari post-crescita", in "Bioeconomia e territori: oltre la crescita", Società dei Territorialisti
Willet et al., 2019, "Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT– Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems", Lancet 2019; 393: 447–92
WRI, 2013, Reducing food losses and waste - Creating a sustainable food future, installment two, working paper World Resources Institute
Data for one of the national indicators (pre‑supply losses) are missing and have been substituted with the corresponding European average. The resulting time series remains relatively short
Dedicated funding is needed for research programmes specifically aimed at accurately estimating, in terms of food energy, the magnitude of conventional food losses and waste, overeating and net edible losses from livestock production.
Additional estimations should also be made for other types of wastage within the food system, represented by the edible portions of the following components.
- Non-yields and losses occurring before the harvests or other withdrawal directly intended for human consumption
- Losses before and during the extraction of feed intended for farm animals.
- Forage used for animal farming
- Non-food uses (such as industrial, energy, or transport uses)
- Losses of essential nutrients
Finally, to comprehensively address the food wastage issue from a systemic perspective, research programmes should aim to integrate the indicator with field data analyses comparing wastage levels between conventional food chains and agroecological, local, small-scale, and mutual food networks. As demonstrated by ISPRA (2017, 2019), these alternative networks structurally prevent food wastage and environmental impacts, drastically reducing both. In this sense, the data produced could support the broader implementation of such sustainable practices.
Qualificazione dati
CREA Osservatorio sulle eccedenze, recuperi e sprechi alimentari ( https://www.crea.gov.it/web/alimenti-e-nutrizione/-/osservatorio-sugli-sprechi-alimentari
https://creafuturo.crea.gov.it/9034/ )
ISTAT, Censimento della popolazione ( https://www.istat.it/statistiche-per-temi/censimenti/popolazione-e-abitazioni/risultati/ )
FAOSTAT, Database ( https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FBS )
Italy
2015, 2021
Qualificazione indicatore
A systemic approach is used to define food waste, based on the methodologies outlined in ISPRA publications (2017, 2019). Systemic food waste, expressed in kcal/person/day or as a percentage, represents the share of food energy produced that is lost in various forms—namely, conventional waste, overconsumption, and losses related to animal conversion.
This systemic input is calculated as the sum of the conventional input from productive withdrawals (harvests, slaughtering, hunting, fishing, etc.) and the input used to feed livestock, minus the edible animal products obtained. The edible conversion factor for livestock products used in this calculation is derived from the literature (Smil, 2004; Stuart, 2009; ISPRA, 2019).
Conventional food waste is the sum of pre-supply and post-supply losses. Supply is defined as the quantity of food/food energy made available for consumption. Post-supply waste includes waste at the consumption stage and at the retail stage, with the latter estimated at around 1% of total conventional food waste (ISPRA, 2019).
Overconsumption is calculated as the difference between actual consumption and the average recommended dietary intake. Variations compared to previous data (2015) are expressed as percentages.
On average in Italy in 2021, the systemic edible input waste, including overconsumption and use in livestock, amounted to approximately 4,877 kcal/person/day. This implies that at least 66% of the food energy contained in the primary edible production (at the beginning of withdrawals) destined directly or indirectly for humans is wasted (net of stock variations). Conventional food waste (losses and food waste) accounts for 1,020 kcal/person/day, or about 25% of the productive input. The supply of animal-derived products represents approximately 32% of the total supply. Average overconsumption accounts for about 24% above the recommended average dietary intake (Table 1). Therefore, the indicator reveals a status that should be considered highly alarming.
Compared to data from 2015, all variables show a worsening trend. Systemic food waste increased by 17%. Conventional waste grew by 6%. Pre-supply waste rose by 2% (despite institutional targets aiming for reduction). Post-supply waste increased by 9% (while the institutional goal is to halve it). Livestock-related waste grew by nearly 19%. Overconsumption rose by approximately 32%. Against a backdrop of a 2.7% decrease in the resident population (ISTAT, 2022), there has instead been an increase of about 14% in Italy’s systemic food waste measured in kcal/person/day.
Dati
Figure 1: Distribution of food energy produced in Italy (2021)
ISPRA processing based on FAOSTAT and CREA data
Table 1: Food Wastage in Italy (2015, 2021)
Data on per capita food waste confirm the causal trend of prevailing socio-economic models already identified by ISPRA (2017), according to which increases since 2015 in input overproduction (conventional +5.3%, systemic +9.7%) amplify increases in waste (conventional and overconsumption +14.6%, systemic +17.2%). The rebound effect or Jevons paradox is further validated, whereby gains in industrial efficiency correspond to increases in supply, waste, and environmental impacts (EEA, 2021).
Waste from livestock represents the largest component, accounting for about two-thirds of total waste. Edible waste in livestock amounts to 44% of edible inputs produced, resulting in approximately 77% inefficiency in conversion to animal-derived products. Conventional waste accounts for 21% of total waste (14% of inputs), of which 63% occurs post-supply (9% of inputs) and 37% pre-supply (5% of inputs). However, pre-supply data do not include losses during or before harvesting (in the field, etc.). Conventional waste represents about 25% of conventional inputs, consistent with global averages (WRI, 2013). Approximately 33% of available calorie supply is wasted across retail, consumption, and overconsumption stages. Retail and consumption waste account for 17.3% of supply, roughly similar to global averages. Overconsumption represents 12% of systemic waste (8% of inputs), nearly matching post-supply waste. On average, overconsumption accounts for 19% of food consumption in Italy, meaning 19% of consumed calories exceed recommended dietary intakes set by international health organizations.
In Italy, about 33% of the adult population is overweight, with an additional 11% obese; approximately one-third (34%) of children aged 6 to 10 are overweight, the highest rate in Europe. This is mainly due to consumption of refined cereals and ultra-processed industrial products high in sugars, salts, and unhealthy fats. Consumption of animal-derived products continues to increase (+18%), far exceeding health organization recommendations. This factor significantly contributes to waste generation and raises risks of diabetes, heart attack, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and cancer. Moreover, about 10% of the Italian population lives in absolute poverty, with 2.5% suffering malnutrition or undernutrition, a growing trend. Overall, it is estimated that more than half of Italians face serious nutritional issues.
These data intersect with the progressive concentration of production at medium-large scale, soil artificialization, and a national food self-sufficiency rate below 80%, dropping to nearly 50% when considering imports of feed and other products for livestock. Additionally, the ecological footprint of food systems alone matches Italy’s entire biocapacity (the land’s ability to regenerate resources and absorb waste); over 50% of this is attributable to systemic food waste (ISPRA, 2019). This mostly occurs in importation and intensive production phases (60%) rather than consumption or disposal. Imports mainly consist of wheat, soy, and maize for feed, and palm oil, but increasingly also fruits and vegetables. Notably, production and supply continue to grow primarily due to industrial imports, which otherwise would be declining.
Conversely, compared to conventional systems (with 50–60% waste), regional, organic, and medium-small scale food systems show an average waste reduction of 67% (waste at 20–25%, e.g., local organic farmers’ markets) and up to 90% reduction in local, agroecological, mutual/self-organized micro-small scale networks (waste at 1–5%, e.g., Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) or Solidarity Purchasing Groups) (ISPRA, 2019; Vulcano, 2024; Di Veroli et al., 2024). Unfortunately, only about 3% of Italian food consumption currently comes from short supply chains, despite significant public interest.
It should be evident that current policies and models are not moving towards sustainable food consumption and production. Rather, socio-ecological resilience practices capable of replacing prevailing trends and modes are urgently needed.