Successful lobbying from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and other industry groups means the millions of tonnes of food wasted by companies each year can be kept secret, documents obtained by openDemocracy reveal.
Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey in August cancelled a proposal to require large businesses to measure and publish how much food they waste, meaning the true scale of the problem will remain hidden.
Coffey’s own department had advised that mandatory reporting would reduce food waste, save businesses money and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
