“Behind the scenes” at Kaufland, sharing more transparency with food waste.

Kaufland remind indeed that 0.8 million tonnes of food are thrown away by the German retail sector every year – a considerable amount. It also clarifies that this waste only represents 7% of the total food waste in Germany, about 11 million tonnes. Other crude realit is that 59 per cent of this is accounted for by private households and 17% by so-called out-of-home catering, such as restaurants. Kaufland reminds a lot effort is made to save food – and that starts right at the point of sale. Julia Herrmann from the merchandise division at Kaufland said: ‘In the stores, needs-based scheduling is initially extremely important. In addition, we can offer reduced-price goods that no longer meet the quality requirements for full-fledged sales in “I'm still good” boxes or stands. The final step is to work with charitable organisations such as food banks.’

Maintaining the cold chain

For more than 25 years, a large proportion of Kaufland stores have been supporting local food banks. Several times a week, they provide the food banks' volunteers with perfectly edible food and everyday items that are no longer suitable for sale. In addition, Kaufland regularly supports the food bank with large donations and other initiatives. ”Our biggest drivers are fruit and vegetables or dairy products, i.e. food that can spoil particularly quickly. Not all food can be donated, because the food banks cannot maintain the 2°C cold chain for meat products, for example. But we are working on creating more options here as well”, explains Julia Herrmann.

Also from Bakery

Another milestone has already been reached in this regard, because now selected items from the bake shop at Kaufland can also be donated to the food banks. The result of this gradual progress: The company is on the right track to achieving its goals: By 2030, Kaufland wants to halve its food waste based on the 2018 baseline. Kaufland has already achieved 34 per cent of this, putting it in the top quarter. Incidentally, the industry average for the reduction in 2023 was 24 per cent. So, is a lot of food at Kaufland going to the bin? Possibly less than most customers would have thought.

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