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Our Mission

About us

Reduce and prevent food waste by reshaping the way we perceive and manage our food resources

EU and private food marketing standards aim to ensure the production of standardized products that meet consumers’ expectations and needs. However, the “cosmetic specifications” and expiring dates set by these standards could have a great impact on food waste, resulting in the dumping of perfectly edible food!

According to EU estimation of food waste, 71% of EU food waste emerges from household, food service and retail stages, there is very limited evidence on which part of this is due to the marketing standards. It is important that we focus on obtaining more evidence on the impact of marketing standards on food waste and “cook up” some solutions to prevent and reduce the disposal of aesthetically imperfect food.

The development of marketing standards is mainly driven by consumer and market demands, therefore focusing mainly on the financial aspect of sustainability, ignoring the impact on the other two pillars, social and environmental.

ROSETTA aims to revolutionize the food waste landscape linked to marketing standards, while also proposing and validating alternative marketing pathways for the effective utilization of suboptimal foods, fostering sustainability and resource optimization.

For whom

Food Business and Marketing Standards Owners

  • Farmers
  • Processors/Manufacturers
  • Distributors
  • Retailers
  • Food Service Operations

Policy Makers/Regulators

  • Policy makers
  • EU institutions and agencies
  • Decision making authorities

Expert Advisors

  • Researchers
  • Innovation Advisors
  • Technology Providers

Consumers/Civil Society

  • Consumers
  • Public associations

ROSETTA goals

01

Conduct transdisciplinary research on food waste produced from marketing standards, by engaging all essential stakeholders across the food value chain in the pilot cases.

02

Examine the reasons behind the establishment of public and private marketing standards and define the way they are related to consumer expectations.

03

Analyse the interactions of the participants along the food value chain and assess the impact of each stage in the quantities of food waste.

04

Collaboratively devise alternative marketing models to enhance the value of food waste resulting from marketing standards, by implementing and validating solutions that reduce food waste and also present business potential.

05

Evaluate the trade-offs between the goals of reducing food waste and marketing standards by analyzing the compromises that have to be made, while also estimating the impact of the identified alternative marketing models.

06

Provide with suggestions for forthcoming policies, the planning of marketing standards and based on the knowledge and insights gained from the pilot cases, recommend the adaptation of solutions to reduce and prevent food waste.