Hoping the idea will spread through the whole food chain, the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity and the Provision Coalition have launched a one year program to help food and beverage manufacturers reduce food waste in their operations.If they can chop their waste, it would set a good example for farmers and retailers and hopefully even consumers, the biggest problem, would get the message, says CCFI President Crystal MacKay. “We want to get the whole system connected; so far we hear lots of good intentions.”If the food manufacturers' initiative is successful, it will help build public trust in the food system and educate consumers about ways to avoid wasting food, she said.Various sources peg food waste in Canada at $31 million annually. Put another way, the equivalent of 30 to 40 per cent of the food produced isn't consumed and ends up in the garbage or compost.CCFI and the Provision Coalition, which promotes food and beverage manufacturing sustainability, have launched Taking Action on Food Loss + Waste with funding provided by the Walmart Foundation. Invites to join have been sent to the food and beverage community, which accounts for about 20 per cent of the waste.The Coalition says there are significant opportunities exist for businesses along food value chains to streamline their operations, reduce food waste, and increase profit, while making better use of scarce resources.The joint campaign got a boost from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an environmental watchdog agency set up under NAFTA, which says there's a strong business and environment case for cutting food waste.Commission spokesmen David Donaldson says Canada is one of the biggest offenders. Farm to table, 396 kilograms of food annually are wasted or lost per capita to 415 kilograms in the United States and 249 kilograms in Mexico.While the Commission says consumers are the biggest part of the problem with the average Canadian tossing 170 kilograms of food a year, it focuses its recommendations focus on the processing, distribution and retail component of the food chain.“You can make a business case for it,” Donaldson said in a statement. “Companies can improve the way they do business."Last fall, Jean-Charles Le Vallee, Associate Director of Food Horizons Canada, part of The Conference Board of Canada, told the Commons agriculture committee that consumers create half of the food waste. “We need to do a lot more on national food policy support tools and engagement with different jurisdictions to raise literacy. It turns out a lot of Canadian can't read food labels because they have very low numeracy skills let alone everything else. They can't do the math.”Gordon Harrison, President of the Canadian National Millers Association, told the committee that consumers aren't becoming more informed on the issue. “I don't think there are statistics to indicate that we've really moved the dial that has made a lot of improvement on the number of consumers who can comprehend labels, comprehend how to handle food, store it, etc.”While governments talk about how safe the food system is, “there is far too little effort, far too little public expenditure, going towards consumer education on nutrition and other things,” he said.The Provision Coalition said the joint program “helps food and beverage manufacturers develop cost effective reduction strategies that can be implemented and whose success can be measured.”The program will be overseen by a working group of food industry specialists including Tim Faveri of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., Lori Nikkel, Second Harvest,John Vandenbroek, Oakrun Bakery, John Lillard, Campbell Company of CanadaSamir Pathak, Coca Cola Refreshments, Bruce Taylor, Enviro-Stewards, Paul van der Werf, and Betsy Varghese, Dillon ConsultingThe long term objective of this project is to enable the development of programs that can assist businesses operating in the food and beverage industry to increase their profitability and competitiveness, while simultaneously benefiting the environment and society.Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.