Sustainable Soy and Food Waste Drive Progress in Netherlands
THE NETHERLANDS – Dutch dairying has vowed to progress on sustainability this year with the announcement that it will work hard to cut food waste and source responsible soy.
30 January 2015
2 minute read
Only soy meeting Roundtable Responsible Soy (RTRS) criteria is now being imported as part of the nation’s annual 300,000 tonne requirement, as of 1 January 2015, says the Dutch Dairy Association (NZO).
The move comes as part of “Sustainable Dairy Chain”, an industry-wide initiative to put Dutch dairying at the forefront of sustainability and means the industry is a world leader, according to, Gert van Der Bijl, soybean coordinator at Solidaridad.
Meanwhile, a tranche of measures will be rolled out to reduce dairy foods wastage, centring on better education and communication.
A food label detailing steps to cut waste of dairy food, to be on the shelves in February, will break the message to shoppers.
Under the banner, “Year Against Food Waste”, measures hope to build a picture of what is being wasted and the impact industry action has had, trying to build on improvements in 2014.
Consumer education and an information sharing agreement with Wageningen University have been flagged by the NZO as key pieces to the puzzle. Industry data will be sent to academics as part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs food waste monitoring policy.
Commenting on the move to buy only sustainably approved soy, Sandra Mulder, international soybean expert from the World Wildlife Fund said: "By buying RTRS soy with the certificate shows the dairy sector is working to prevent deforestation and degradation of habitats of particular species such as the jaguar.”
TheCattleSite News Desk
