Methods to reduce food waste in flour products by developing the specific competence of specialists in the sector

The project’s aim was to support the flour products industry in the partners countries involved in the implementation in order to save resources in the bakery and flour products industry and thus ...

The general objective was to reduce food waste on flour products in the current conditions of sustainable development and the circular economy in the partner countries with effect on all actors involved in the chain of producers-distributors-merchants. The specific objectives were: • Improving procedures and means to reduce food waste in institutions from the partner countries • Decrease food waste on flour products in the production sector of flour products • Empowering specialists in distribution and marketing of flour products to save natural resources and protect the environment • Strengthening the institutional capacity of partner organizations by achieving exchanges of good practices on reducing food waste in the flour industry • Awareness of specialists in the flour products industry in the distribution and marketing chain in partner countries on the importance of reducing food waste of flour products A detailed analysis unfolded identified to 2 common needs that were solved: - Reducing food waste in the chain of producers-distributors – merchants for flour products in the current conditions of sustainable development and the circular economy - Improving the skills of the staff of all project partners.

In the project there were 5 main activities implemented so that the general objective could be achieved. The activities implemented were: A1 – Management activity; A2 – Activity of elaborating the project’s results; A3 – Training activity; A4 – Informing and dissemination activity; A5 – Quality monitoring activity. By implementing the activities described above, the general objective of the project was achieved. The project was conceived as a unitary whole, the activities being correlated with the specific objectives of the project and the results were thought as a practical finality of all actions. By performing these activities the partnership suceeded in improving the skills of the experts involved that will be involved in training other people in VET system on methods and means of reducing food waste, that was also the project’s general objective. Also important was to train the specialists in the food chain from delivery to marketing and improve the skills of specialists dealing with this issue in order to reduce the food waste in the flour production sector in the partner countries.

During the project’s implementation unfolding the 5 main activities described above one of the main goals is to achieve the project’s general objective. By implementing the project we wish to achieve also the 5 specific objectives of the project. All the project activities and the results are correlated as a practical finality of all actions. By implementing A1 – Management activity the specific objective “Strengthening the institutional capacity of the partner organizations by achieving exchanges of good practices regarding the reduction of food waste in the bakery and flour products industry. By implementing A2 – Activity of elaborating the project results we will obtain the results listed above that support the specific objective “Improving procedures and means of reducing food waste in institutions in partner countries” but also “Reducing food waste in flour products in the flour production sector”. By implementing A3 – The training activity will achieve the specific objective “ Responsibility of specialists in the distribution and marketing of flour products to save natural resources and environmental protection” but also “Awareness of specialists in the bakery and flour industry and the distribution and marketing chain in partner countries on the importance of reducing food waste”. A4 – Dissemination activity will be carried out through the entire period of the project’s implementation. A4 will be implemented in order to raise awareness of the specialists from the bakery and flour products industry and the ones from the distribution chain in the partner countries regarding the reduction of the food waste of the flour products. A5 – Quality monitoring activity is for assuring that all the project’s results are achieved with good quality and also all objectives set at the beginning of the project will be reached. The tangible results established at the beginning of the project are: the Curriculum and Course handout “Methods and means to reduce food waste in flour products”. Another tangible result is the Guide addressed to specialists in the distribution and marketing link for reducing waste in flour products. Other tangible result is the training of 11 specialists in the bakery and flour products industry trained in order to improve their skills. Other tangible results: - Guide addressed to specialists in the distribution and marketing link for reducing food waste in flour products. - 11 specialists in the bakery and flour products industry trained, that improved their skills - Transnational strategic partnership consisting of 5 partners, organizations with experience in the field of bakery, training and continuing education - 3 short training sessions of 4 days for 11 participants - 291 specialists from the target group trained on methods and means of reducing food waste in the bakery and flour industry If the activities are carried out successfully in the project, the partnership formed will succeed in improving the skills of the experts involved who will later train other people in the VET system regarding methods and means to reduce food waste and that is also the project’s general objective. In this moment the whole planet is facing a lack of food, and for the industry to align to the new requirements it is necessary to reduce the portions, rethink the packaging system in terms of quality and materials used. We expect to find solutions for replacing non-biodegradable packaging with other type of packaging in order to reduce pollution. In a similar way we wish to train specialists in the chain from delivery to marketing in order to improve the skills of specialists dealing with this issue to succeed, in order to reduce food waste on flour products in partner countries. We wish that in the future to transfer our methods to other sectors or countries.