Together against food waste

Bielefeld, September 2024 – Only 12% of Germans consume all food before the best-before date (BBD) is reached – and they don't have to. Because many foods are good for longer. The good news: Around 67 percent of Germans already proceed according to the "look, smell, taste" procedure for an expired best-before date and look, smell and taste whether they are still edible. This means that the majority in this country is very conscious of food and avoids unnecessary food waste. This is one of the findings of a representative Dr. Oetker Study on the topic of "Food Waste", which was conducted by the market research institute YouGov Germany GmbH on behalf of Dr. Oetker with 2,027 respondents. Dr. Oetker is committed to as little food waste as possible in production and warehouses every day - and supports consumers in paying attention to this at home.

No need to throw away

Germans are already making a lot of effort to waste as little food as possible: 55 per-cent of those surveyed said that they already pay attention to conscious shopping. Around 51 percent simply freeze food if possible and 44 percent think carefully about what they can prepare from leftovers. Only six percent of those surveyed simply throw food in the trash after the best-before date has expired without being checked.

A little less waste, big taste

With our current campaign "A little less waste, big taste", we at Dr. Oetker are encouraging our consumers to take action against food waste even more strongly from September. At the heart of the campaign are creative and reimagined recipes that encourage a diverse and varied combination of foods. From carrot root bread with pesto and a golden caramel made from banana peel to pizza margherita with rocket salad and antipasti - the inspiring recipes for avoiding food waste are bundled together in a booklet with numerous tips and tricks on the subject in several markets like the Czech Republic, Belgium or Austria and many more.

Down to the last crumb – we save food in production

Of course, if you want to minimize food waste, you also have to look at yourself: As part of our Dr. Oetker Sustainability Charter, we want to reduce our food waste in warehouses and production by 25% by 2025. Numerous measures in our plants around the world contribute to this goal. Pizza bases that are not perfectly baked are ground and used in the next dough batch, cheese that trickles past is collected cleanly, down-times are avoided - the list of ideas is long: https://www.oetker.com/stories/we-save-food

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