Food: a standard and a label to combat waste
On March 1, 2023, the public authorities launched the Anti-Food Waste label, in accordance with the AGEC law of 2020. This mark of recognition, awarded to players in the food chain working to combat waste, is based on AFNOR standards.
Environmental protection
The 2023 Agricultural Show provided a clear picture of what voluntary standardization offers distributors keen to reduce waste: a set of guidelines listing the criteria to be taken into account throughout the supply chain to prevent food waste, from upstream agriculture to the end consumer. This reference framework was used as the basis for developing the anti-food waste label presented at the show on March 1 by the Secretary of State for Ecology. This label was created by the law of February 10, 2020, on the fight against waste and the circular economy (known as the AGEC law), which requires a 50% reduction in waste tonnage by 2025 or 2030 (depending on the stakeholders) compared to 2015. In France, food waste is reaching record levels: 9 million tons per year from producer to consumer, or 30 kg per person per year.
AFNOR Certification is one of the certification bodies authorized to issue the label following an audit to the primary stakeholders: retail chains, wholesalers, and food service professionals. You can apply for it here .
The label's core reference framework was developed in a restricted standardization format, at the request of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, under the auspices of AFNOR. Published in the AFNOR Spec collection and available here, it earned the project leader a Gold Standards trophy, which was presented to him on the eve of World Standards Day, October 14, 2022. The document allows you to list, objectify, and share all the criteria that must be taken into account to demonstrate that a food producer or distributor deserves to be labeled as anti-waste.
Catherine Conil, who is in charge of the dossier at the General Commission for Sustainable Development, a department of the ministry, described it at the time.
The project brought together around forty stakeholders: the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency), large and medium-sized retailers, wholesalers and small local shops, as well as certification bodies and food donation and aid organizations.
