Nomad Foods Europe Limited
NYSE: NOMD
Headquartered in the UK, Nomad Foods is Europe's leading frozen foods company.
ID: 314891743101-96
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Pascal Canfin (Member of the European Parliament) and Unilever and
29 Jun 2023 · Green Deal
Meeting with Franc Bogovič (Member of the European Parliament)
15 Jun 2022 · Meeting on EU Farm to Fork Strategy
Meeting with Elsi Katainen (Member of the European Parliament)
19 May 2022 · green claims and sustainable labelling for food products
Response to Food waste reduction targets
28 Oct 2021
Nomad Foods welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Roadmap on Food Waste Reduction Targets. We are Europe’s leading frozen food company operating in 22 European markets, with 19 in every 20 products that we sell ranking either #1 or #2 in market share.
Nomad Foods agrees with the European Commission’s goals and objectives as outlined in the Farm to Fork Strategy to reduce the environmental and climate footprint of the EU food system and facilitate the shift to healthy and sustainable diets. We agree with the European Commission’s proposal to address food waste through EU-level targets for food waste reduction. In some European markets, the level of food waste is akin to between 15-20% of all food consumed by volume. Frozen food allows to avoid food waste in a first place and contributes to European citizens being able to manage their use of food and reduce waste more easily.
With regards to the understanding of the problem we would like to draw the European Commission’s attention to the issue of food waste prevention and recommend it is more prominent.
Apart from the supply chain waste, that we fully agree it requires action from all stakeholders, we would like to draw attention to the potential that prevention of consumer waste offers to achieve the goal of 50% waste reduction by 2030. Currently, the Impact Assessment mainly focuses on the supply chain reductions, and so we would recommend for consumer and supply chain aspects to be more balanced in the proposals.
In this context, we believe that food waste targets’ initiatives could serve as an excellent platform to encourage consumers to reduce their food waste. As pointed out by the European Commissions, it could be achieved through:
- improving knowledge and awareness on levels and impacts of food waste;
- influencing attitudes and behaviors that lead to food waste and encourage uptake of food waste prevention measures along the food chain, from production through consumption;
Additionally, food waste targets should not be viewed as a standalone piece of legislation but link to other Farm to Fork initiatives to ensure policy coherence. For instance, the sustainable labelling framework, could take food waste into account and inform consumers which food choices are more sustainable also from this perspective.
In terms of the proposed scenarios, we would be in favor of Option S1 (in terms of scope), a target covering the whole food supply chain, from farm gate to the final consumer, including the impact the final consumer might have by making different food choices.
To reiterate, we would like the future Food waste targets proposals to:
- Enhance the aspects of food waste prevention
- Empower consumers to take action on food waste through provisions of information of the potential food waste impact of products (incorporate in the sustainable labelling framework)
- Balance the supply chain and consumer waste elements
About Nomad Foods:
Nomad Foods (EU Transparency Register Number: 314891743101-96), the third largest branded frozen food company in the world, with revenues of €2.5bn and employs 4,500 people.
Nomad Foods is Europe’s leading frozen food company and everyday millions of households enjoy products from Birds Eye, Findus, iglo and other famous brands. Its brands are often share leaders in their respective markets, ranking #1 or #2 in market share across 94% of its core portfolio. The company operates across 22 major European markets, Italy, Germany, Sweden and France representing its four largest EU markets.
Nomad Foods is proud to produce great tasting food that is good for people, good for the planet, affordable and available everywhere. It is committed to doing its part to support transformation across the food system. Earlier this summer, Nomad Foods became a proud co-signatory of the EU’s Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices. Nomad Foods is also a signatory of the Science-Based Targets Initiative.
Read full responseResponse to Sustainable food system – setting up an EU framework
25 Oct 2021
Nomad Foods welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Roadmap on Sustainable food system framework initiative. We are Europe’s leading frozen food company operating in 22 European markets, with 19 in every 20 products that we sell ranking either #1 or #2 in market share.
Nomad Foods agrees with the European Commission’s goals and objectives as outlined in the Farm to Fork Strategy and recognises the links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet. As evidenced in our 2020 Sustainability Report , We are a committed stakeholder and willing to contribute towards a more sustainable food system.
With regards to the understanding of the problem we would like to draw the European Commission’s attention to the issue of food waste and recommend it is more prominently highlighted as one of the topics that are a part of the sustainable life cycle. In some European markets, the level of food waste is akin to between 15-20% of all food consumed by volume. Frozen food contributes to European citizens being able to more easily manage their use of food and reduce waste.
The European Commission notes as one of the problems that negative environmental and social, including health, externalities are not effectively reflected in the price and cost of foods, creating market distortions favorable to unsustainable food products. In this context, we would like to highlight that frozen food provides a sustainable choice for consumers without compromising on the price.
We are delighted that the European Commission highlights insufficient reduction of food waste and waste across the food value chain, including at consumption stage. However, we would like to point out that especially waste at the point of consumption requires bigger attention and should be included in any deliberations concerning sustainable framework, such as sustainable labelling
We note the Commission’s opinion on the lack of transparency and insufficient information about sustainability aspects. However, this shouldn’t get in the way of focusing on waste akin to nearly one fifth of everything that is produced. As such, we would also like point out the importance of using externally recognised and valid scientific methodologies for measuring sustainability including transparency of data.
With regards to objectives and policy options, we would suggest adding food waste as one of the areas to address; under the bullet point two (addition in bold):
(…) a favorable food environment makes it easier to choose healthy and sustainable diets providing benefits for consumers’ health and contributing to the reduction of the environmental footprint of the food system and food waste, as well as attracting investments into sustainable production methods.
Similarly, in the bullet point 7 we would suggest that by addressing ‘transparency for sustainability purposes’ also transparency of methodologies is taken into account.
From the policy options, Nomad Foods would advocate for a comprehensive legal framework building on the reinforcement of the existing legislation and ensuring that following the impact assessment new identified elements are included.
To reiterate, we would like the Sustainable food systems framework to:
- Include the notion of food waste in the life cycle analysis (at point of sale to the consumer and consumer consumption).
- Ensure level playing field by provisions of mandatory, externally recognised and valid scientific methodologies and transparency requirements.
Read full response