junho, 16 2026

By Brazil Without Waste 

On May 26 and 27, representatives of Brazil Without Waste joined the delegation participating in the First Meeting of the Intersectoral Strategy for Food Loss and Waste Reduction in Brazil. The event took place alongside the Fourth National Food Bank Meeting in Salvador, Bahia. Organized by Brazil's Ministry of Social Development and Assistance, Family and the Fight Against Hunger (MDS), the initiative was supported by Sesc, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 

For Brasil Sem Desperdício, participation in the event reinforced its mission to work collaboratively with government, businesses, academia, and civil society to address food loss and waste (FLW). The program makes its practical experience available to the country through scientific methodologies, international collaboration, governance, and multi-stakeholder engagement. 

In Salvador, the initiative was represented by Brazil Without Waste Advisory Board member Gustavo Porpino, from Embrapa, and Isabela Soares, from WRAP, who formally presented a structured document containing direct recommendations for the national strategy. The document outlines the program's potential contributions to implementing Brazil's Second National Strategy for Food Loss and Waste Reduction, with a focus on measurement, public-private collaboration, and food waste prevention. 

Coordinated by the MDS, the national strategy aims to foster coordinated action among multiple ministries and public and private stakeholders to strengthen food security and promote circularity across the country—a sustainable economic model in which resources and food are fully utilized for their primary purpose: nourishing people while preventing waste throughout the entire food system. This coordinated effort is particularly urgent, as 16 million people in Brazil still experience mild or moderate food insecurity. 
 

Building bridges between the public and private sectors 

One of the Second National Strategy's most strategic priorities is to enable public-private partnerships and voluntary agreements to reduce food loss and waste. As a multi-stakeholder platform connecting businesses, governments, and civil society, Brasil Sem Desperdício offers a practical response to this challenge. The program serves as a technical bridge capable of driving pilot projects, supporting municipalities in their transition toward a circular economy, and strengthening the essential link between food waste reduction and the climate agenda. 

To support these efforts, the document submitted to government representatives details how the initiative can help advance the federal strategy's goals for the 2025–2027 period through practical actions that facilitate its implementation. 
 

Practical alignment and priority multi-stakeholder actions 

In the area of measurement and data generation, the program proposes supporting food loss assessments in priority crops by conducting pilot quantification studies at wholesale food distribution centers in partnership with the Brazilian Association of Wholesale Distribution Centers (Abracen), Embrapa, and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The program also offers to share the research it has promoted and supported to complement national assessments of household food waste. 

In line with the strategy's objective of strengthening food banks, the proposal also seeks to establish a technical framework to improve measurement criteria, traceability, and the quality of food donations between participating companies and the Brazilian Food Bank Network, increasing the efficiency of donation flows for fresh and minimally processed foods. 

Regarding fiscal incentives, the proposal highlights the work of Brasil Sem Desperdício's Fiscal Working Group, which is mapping tax-related barriers and developing recommendations to improve accounting procedures, transforming them into effective incentives for the safe donation of surplus food. In addition, the initiative proposes creating multi-stakeholder collaboration platforms to support municipalities in developing local circular economy assessments and action plans, reducing the disposal of organic waste in landfills and open dumps while helping to mitigate methane emissions.