Dr. Oetker Stories
Campaign against the waste of bad-looking fruit
Cameo joins the fight against food waste with “Sensi Di Polpa”.
6.5.2022 • Sustainability
Every year 10 to 20 million tons of food end up wasted in Italy alone. According to the GfK (Provider of data and analytics to the consumer goods industry), Fruit is the most wasted food in Italy: roughly 70g per family per week. That is why in June 2021, cameo launched “Sensi di Polpa,” a campaign against the waste of bad-looking fruit. Through the campaign, people were encouraged not to throw away bruised, imperfect or bad-looking fruit. Instead, they were inspired to preserve fruit, for instance, by making jam with it.
Anti-waste recipes to save bad-looking fruit
Consumers and employees were invited to participate in the campaign by sharing the amount of personally “saved” fruit in a waste counter. Since the beginning of the campaign, 2066 kg of fruit has been saved. Furthermore, cameo published a vademecum “Get all the good“: a collection of ten anti-waste recipes created by the DolceCasa* pastry chefs. The chefs identified fresh products that were most at risk of being thrown away and therefore wasted. In developing, the recipes they made sure to use the product in its entirety, from peel to the seed. The anti-waste cookbook contains both sweet and salty recipes, which provide useful ideas to help reduce food waste every day.
*DolceCasa is a large equipped kitchen where young and old can try their hand at preparing many recipes and learning the tricks of the trade from our pastry chefs.
Our Italian colleagues Simone Ghisleri, Francesca Nodari and Martina Tagliapietra with their homemade jam.
“Food waste is a huge environmental, economic and social challenge for humanity to solve. By working on this initiative, it made me more aware of the importance of acting today. I was also proud of my contribution in making cameo an ambassador for this topic in Italy.”
Simone Ghisleri, Junior Communication Specialist
Waste reduction is a long-term commitment
Waste reduction has always been important to us and is part of our DNA. Several of the products for which cameo is best known for were originally created to use leftovers and fight waste. Such as our pudding which was originally made to recover leftover milk. In 2020, we launched our Sustainability Charter to embed sustainability into our DNA by setting ambitious targets across the three dimensions: Our Food, Our World, and Our Company. For instance, by 2025, cameo wants to reduce food waste in our plants (warehouse & production) by 25%.
“Too Good To Go”
To further our commitment to reducing food waste, cameo also signed the “Agreement against Food Waste” promoted by Too Good To Go. By joining the Agreement, we are committed to reducing waste:
1. “We provide our employees and consumers with ideas and practical advice to help them find ways to reduce food waste in their homes.”
2. “We supply Too Good To Go with some of our products which have nearly reached their best-by dates.”
The “Agreement against Food Waste” and the “Sensi di Polpa” campaign are two initiatives that help raise awareness while providing concrete ways for consumers, and employees to make a difference to food waste.
For more information please contact:
Katharina Ahnepohl
Media Spokesperson Sustainability