Is more and more food being thrown away because of unsold and expensive groceries? Experts say it’s complicated

As Canadians deal with rising grocery prices — from $16 for watermelons to $40 for a package of chicken — struggling shoppers are wondering if inflation is leading to more food waste.

Food rescue industry experts and academics in the field said Yahoo Canada that many factors contribute to food waste. They claim that no official data is available to confirm that rising prices lead to an increase in unsold goods and, therefore, an increase in food waste. Some on the ground, however, say they have seen a considerable increase in the amount of food collected from wholesalers and grocery stores.

Expert: Many variables to take into account

Kate Parizeau is an associate professor at the University of Guelph and specializes in waste management. She said there was probably not enough public information to show the link between inflation and retail food waste, and there were many other variables to consider, such as seasonality and prices.

Some data suggests that inflation is changing people’s dining habits. They could replace table-service restaurants with fast food, home-cooked meal kits, or spending on groceries, including a few splurges to offset the “treat” element of restaurants. However, it’s hard to be sure, Parizeau said.

“Food consumption and waste are dynamic phenomena and therefore it can be very difficult to analyze trends,” she added.

Mike von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph, said it’s possible inflation could lead to more food waste, but it would likely be temporary.

“If you’re not selling a $16 watermelon, you’re not going to order that many watermelons,” he says. “Yes, there may be real short-term impacts, but retailers will adapt relatively quickly to match demand with their inventory.”

Von Massow said that compared to other businesses, grocery retailers have relatively low margins.

“If you look at operating profit as a percentage of sales, it hasn’t changed much in light of the inflationary pressures we’ve had,” he says. “If they saw an increase in food waste, it would mean reducing their margins. So there is an incentive to have enough product to be able to sell it if customers want it, but not so much that you have to throw it away.

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He added that while buyers will see a short-term misalignment between inventory and demand due to inflation, these circumstances will not last.

“Customers will change their purchasing habits for a variety of reasons,” says von Massow.

Foundation plans to double food drive in just one year

The Food Stash Foundation, based in Vancouver, is a charity with several programs that redistribute food collected from wholesalers, producers and grocery stores.

Anna Gray, the association’s communications specialist, says she has seen an 89% increase in food collected since 2022, although she points out that this could be the result of several factors, including the addition of seven additional food donors to the 20 they are already working on. with.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen an increase in food waste in some specific stores and a decrease in other specific stores,” she says, noting that some retailers could manage their inventory more efficiently.

Gray shared a specific example of where waste was increasing. In January 2023, Food Stash worked with three grocery stores from the same large chain, which Gray did not name, and collected 13,542 pounds of food in one month. In January 2024, that number nearly doubled to 26,623 pounds from those same three grocery stores.

Grocers aim for “as little waste as possible”

Yahoo Canada contacted Longo’s, Sobeys, Metro and Loblaws to request data on the amount of waste from their stores in recent years. Longo’s was the only grocer to respond with a statement, saying the grocery chain’s goal is to divert 90 percent of waste from landfills in their stores and distribution centers by 2025.

“We work hard every day to monitor our product orders to be sure we have as little waste as possible,” Mike Longo, Longo’s chief operating officer, wrote in an emailed statement.

He added that the grocer is partnering with the Too Good to Go app in all of its stores. The app allows customers to reserve a discounted bag of food that would otherwise be wasted across a number of departments including bakery, prepared foods and dairy.

France passes law to ban supermarket waste. Why not Canada?

In 2016, France became the first country to ban supermarket waste.

The law requires large grocery stores to donate food that is still safe to eat, instead of throwing it away. Violators could be fined the equivalent of $5,400 and store managers could face up to two years in prison.

The French Federation of Food Banks told PBS that, thanks to the law, 46,000 tonnes of food that would have been thrown away each year is now donated to food banks and other charities.