SUSTAINABLE INTERVENTIONS TO MANAGE RETAIL FOOD WASTE: A SCOPING REVIEW

Food waste (FW) affects the economy, sustainability, food security, and climate but effective practices to reduce waste in the food retail sector have received limited attention in existing studies. To address this gap, a scoping review was conducted to systematically identify and categorise research about interventions targeting retail FW. After searching four electronic literature databases, study selection allowed for the inclusion of 43 studies in the review. The narrative synthesis illustrates possible outcomes of such responses to retail FW and aggregates similar interventions and actors involved. Findings comprised 132 interventions from 41 countries, mostly European (73.2%). While supermarkets were responsible for implementing 86.4% of the initiatives, the interventions targeted both consumers (50.8%) and their own businesses (46.2%). Utilising a FW hierarchy framework, interventions were classified into seven categories, predominantly focusing on preventative measures such as awareness campaigns, price reduction, operational optimization, legal regulation, and FW repurposing for human consumption through donations. These prevention and reuse strategies hold promise across diverse contexts and warrant further exploration. About half of the interventions quantified their effects, and we address the most relevant environmental, social, and economic impacts. The findings underscore the need for research investment in the global South.