Retail environment
Cutting the carbs in all shapes and sizes
Carrefour has partnered with the Gueules Cassées (Ugly Mugs) collective to introduce the 'Tous AntiGaspi' (All Against Waste) range to its French stores as part of its efforts to reduce food waste and reduce its carbon footprint.
The Tous AntiGaspi products are described by the retailer as having minor visual imperfections and so are sold at a discount despite being perfectly palatable.
It is not only fresh fruit and vegetables but packaged goods as well in the fight against food waste, an issue that costs European retailers billions of euros each year in losses and adds a staggering seven per cent to global CO2.
Carrefour has deployed in its stores a comprehensive anti-waste policy for three years. "This brand is an additional step in our commitment to fight against food waste," says Bertrand Swiderski. The group notably extended the use-by dates on more than 300 of its products. "Our goal for 2016 is to mobilize all buyers and suppliers around the group to supply 'Tous AntiGaspi.'"
With this initiative, Carrefour hopes to help its suppliers make use of products that are of non-standard shape or appearance, while also offering a solution to reduce food waste at all levels of the supply chain – from producer to customer.
In April of this year, Carrefour launched a Camembert under the brand in 228 of its hypermarkets, and will launch a new breakfast cereal in north-eastern France in January 2016, with hopes to expand the range to a wider variety of products.
To be included in the Tous AntiGaspi range, products must meet certain criteria, meaning they have to offer a genuine solution to the problem of food waste, and they have to be as good and as safe to eat as their graded equivalents, and they must be discounted and sold as locally as possible.
Finally, for every product in the Tous AntiGaspi line that is sold, one cent will be donated to food aid charities through the Microdon charity fund.
