Winnow join forces with the UAE to save 3 million meals by the end of 2020

World Food Day: Sending out a strong message against food waste, the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) organized an event with Winnow and hosted by Rotana to encourage food businesses to pledge to save 3 million meals by the end of 2020. 

Food waste is a significant global problem that we must solve if we are to have a meaningful impact on climate change. Also, food waste is an expensive issue. In the UAE alone, food waste costs the country an average of 13 billion Dirhams per year. MOCCAE have prioritized tackling the problem of food waste in line with the UAE’s commitment  to cut food waste by 50% by 2030 in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Within the hospitality and foodservice sector leadership is necessary to drive change. There is a huge opportunity for us to reduce waste in our hospitality and foodservice sector. For commercial kitchens, food waste prevention is preferable to redistribution to minimize impact and reduce costs.

In a first for the local industry, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment is inviting commercial kitchens across the UAE to pledge to prevent food waste working towards a goal of 3 million meals saved by 2020. During this World Food Day (October 16th), the MOCCAE joined forces with Winnow to host an event to encourage operators to take the pledge. In addition to that, the event connected different stakeholder groups through leadership and knowledge sharing.

Together, Winnow and the MOCCAE joined a group of experts to discuss the importance of influential leaders encouraging the entire food community to take action against food waste.  Representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rotana Hotels, Accor Hotels and Emaar Hospitality Group were some of the many prestigious brands at the event.

Winnow is uniquely placed to be able to accurately quantify food waste prevention via its data captured in kitchens. Together with the initial pioneers - Rotana, Emaar and Majid Al Futtaim - representatives from other companies like Emirates Flight Catering, AccorHotels, ADNH Compass, IHG, Hyatt and NCC joined MOCCAE’s call to fight food waste in the country.  

The hospitality sector in the UAE is leading the change in the global fight against food waste. We look forward to welcoming more and more operators within the hotel and foodservice sector to join us and work towards an ambitious target of saving millions of meals from the bin.