Emirates Foundation and Accuro sign MoU to minimise food waste

Emirates Foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Accuro, the Dubai-based provider of world-class, cost-efficient food and support services, to support the Foundation in the creation and implementation of a pilot intervention scheme that will road-test changes in behaviour that may contribute to food loss and waste reduction.

This comes as part of the Foundation's efforts to galvanise government entities, the private sector, Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and communities across the nation into action to collectively address the pressing issue of food loss and waste in the UAE across the entire supply chain, and support the National Food Loss and Waste Initiative "Ne’ma".

Through this agreement, Accuro will support Ne’ma by delivering a range of strategies designed to reduce food loss and waste in staff canteens and cafeterias, including the selection of sites for pilot projects, providing orientation and training to key staff and measuring and record food waste data during the pilot.

Speaking on the announcement, Ahmed Talib Al Shamsi, CEO of Emirates Foundation, said,

"Through a range of collaborations with local, regional and international bodies, we are aiming to directly target food loss and waste reduction, whether at farm, manufacturer, distributor, retailer, restaurant or household. This MoU with Accuro will help us to uncover the root causes behind current behaviour and allow us to strategise the piloting of ‘nudges’ to create a new social norm around responsible buying, storing, preparation and consumption of food."

Al Shamsi explained that establishing a UAE-wide baseline for food loss and waste will give the means to quantify the problem, identify potential hotspots and enable informed decision-making in order to better tackle food loss and waste.

"The Ne’ma initiative is about increasing public awareness of the issues arising and enabling a change in current waste related behaviour, promoting more positive and sustainable habits that contribute to preserving our precious food resources in line with the UAE’s national food security strategy of halving food waste by 2030,"

he added.

For his part, Scott Duran, CEO of Accuro, commented,

"Our dedicated team of professionals provide in-depth specialist knowledge and understanding in healthcare, corporate and education sectors. Our success has been, and will continue to be, founded upon our passion for what we do. It is this passion and focus which sets us apart from other providers in the market."

The MoU between Emirates Foundation and Accuro ensures that the Ne’ma initiative will benefit from their joint strategic objectives and recognised expertise and contribute to the development of the UAE community, by addressing over-consumption, building a UAE-wide social commitment to be responsible for more sustainable solutions to the problem, and supporting the UAE’s dedication to traditional values and good stewardship of national resources.

"Ne’ma" Initiative was launched in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to serve as an umbrella to align and catalyse national efforts to reduce food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030 in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

News Source: Emirates News Agency