The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the government agency charged with reducing food waste, has changed the way domestic food waste is categorised to distinguish ready-meals from take-away foods.

The move has delighted the Chilled Food Association (CFA). The trade body for the ready-meal industry had criticised WRAP for linking ready-meal manufacturers and take-away restaurants on food waste as misleading and damaging the perception of ready meals.

In its The Food We Waste Report, published last summer, WRAP set out domestic food waste as divided into different categories and claimed that consumers threw away “440,000 ready-made meals”. CFA disputed these figures and pressed for WRAP to change its definition arguing that most of the wastage identified relates to take-away restaurant meals and not store-bought meals.

Kaarin Goodburn, CFA secretary general said: “WRAP didn’t understand the impact that their misleading terminology and figures would have on the perception of the sector. In addition, the numbers simply didn’t add up. Estimated waste levels were extremely high compared to the market data. WRAP has since indicated a more realistic estimate of waste from these categories. Of the total 215,000 tonnes, around 81,000 tonnes represents waste from store-bought ready-meals and 88,000 tonnes from take-aways. The remainder is considered impossible to determine. We, therefore, welcome the decision by WRAP to change their terminology which we believe will ultimately lead to more accurate information and improvements in minimising food waste.”

Goodburn claims CFA and its individual members have long been active in waste minimisation and have been developing research priorities and progressive industry and government policy. CFA is involved in a £750,000 sustainable shelf-life extension research programme. Dubbed Sussle, the programme aims to understand and explore the extension of the shelf life of chilled foods by using tailored reduced energy heat processes, enhancing quality without compromising safety. CFA is also funding research at Sheffield Hallam University comparing energy usage and waste arising from domestic and industrial production of lasagne.