Did you know that 1/3 of all food globally goes to waste? Wasting food also means wasting the water used to produce the food and the land on which the food has been produced (28% of the world’s agricultural land), while 9.9% of the human population is undernourished. Due to food wastage, billions of tons of CO2 emissions are released into Earth’s atmosphere, contributing greatly to climate change. According to the UN’s Food Waste Index Report 2021, Greek people waste, on average, 142 kg of food annually, one of the highest in the world.
Keeping in mind all these important statistics, at ACG, we celebrated World Food Safety Day with a joined event – under the coordination of the Office of Public Affairs – with SDG Student Hub Athens University of Economics & Business (AUEB), ACG UNSDGs Student Hub, NGO Boroume, IKEA, Django Gelato and the Executive Chef Dimitris Skarmoutsos.
During this event, esteemed professionals from different sectors shared their knowledge, experience and tips with the audience, pointing out the ways of contributing to the elimination of food waste. The panel was composed of Dia Chorafa, Boroume, Coordinator of the Alliance for the Reduction of food waste in Greece; Rania Assariotaki, Senior Manager for Sustainability, The American College of Greece; Effie Petropoulou, In-store IFB Manager, IKEA Greece; Aggeliki Goude, Marketing Specialist in Sustainability, IKEA Greece; Konstantinos Karakatsanis, Gelato artist, Django Gelato; Dimitris Skarmoutsos, Executive Chef, and moderated by two Deree parallel students, Eva Papanikolaki and Despoina Chatzakou.
Before the panel discussions, Dr. Athanasios Krystallis, Executive Director, Center of Excellence in Food, Tourism and Leisure, The American College of Greece, presented the key findings of the Panhellenic study on the perceptions of Greek consumers on food waste and food labeling.
The well-known Executive Chef Dimitris Skarmoutsos gave tips on making more sustainable choices when buying food items and also on home consumption. The panelists commented on the findings of the Panhellenic study and presented some examples of their industries regarding the management and elimination of food waste.
At the end of the event, all participants tasted the 100% natural, handmade Django Gelato flavors.
The event took place in the context of the ACG’s raising-awareness campaign, “Reduce Your FOODprint!”. The campaign aims at raising awareness about this critical issue and educating our community on best practices on how to save food.
You can watch online parts of the event at the following links from our official Sustainability @ ACG YouTube channel:
