Stricter laws could be the answer to reducing food waste

(File)
(File)

Every year around a third of food produced worldwide is wasted.

Food waste could feed 200 million people per year - so what's being done about it?

Italy has passed a law requiring supermarkets to donate unsold and expiring food to the hungry.

The country now offers:

Italy hopes these measures will reduce annual food waste by 20 percent.

France was actually the first country to introduce food waste laws, in 2015 - and they're even more strict.

Supermarkets can be fined or owners jailed if they throw away food instead of donating it.

The law prompted one supermarket to start a campaign selling so-called "ugly food" for 30 percent of the usual price.

Even the US, the land of excess, offers tax incentives to encourage food donation.

Here in New Zealand, we waste around $870 million of food every year.

But supermarkets say they don't need regulation and some, like Countdown, donate unused veggies to farmers and other businesses - totalling around $3.5 million last year alone.

Newshub.