Initiative involves revamping the menus and shipboard food preparation processes
By
Elizabeth Robinson |
Costa Cruises has developed a 4GOODFOOD programme to halve the volume of food waste produced onboard its cruise ships by 2020.
The company is collaborating with international partners who have a proven track record of cutting food waste, such as Fondazione Banco Alimentare ONLUS, Cittadinanzattiva, the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo and Winnow.
Prior to the 4GOODFOOD programme being developed, Costa and its partners carried out a pilot project on Costa Diadema in 2016, which resulted in a 50% reduction in food waste in 11 months. These measures have been incorporated into the 4GOODFOOD initiative and are being implemented fleetwide.
“We’ve taken a good hard look at the value of food and responsible consumption, and come up with practical solutions,” said Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises. “4GOODFOOD is unprecedented in global shipping. Thanks to this programme we intend to cut food waste on our ships by half by 2020, 10 years ahead of the deadline prescribed by the United Nations 2030 Agenda. We’ve laid down a marker for the industry by promoting a more sustainable shipboard food preparation and consumption model, without in any way impairing the quality of the cruise experience.”
As part of the 4GOODFOOD initiative, Costa Cruises has revamped its food and beverage offerings with more sustainable options. Together with food waste solution provider Winnow, Costa Cruises also placed kitchen scales in the ships’ galleys and kept a centralised record, so it could analyse the level of waste at the food processing and preparation level. This system has enabled the gradual implementation of improvement actions onboard the ships, and is already in use on over half the fleet.
“Today, one third of all the food that we produce is never eaten,” said Peter Bakker, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). “As almost 800 million people suffer from malnourishment and food insecurity across the globe, this is a situation which simply cannot continue. As the global voice of sustainable business, WBCSD is leading a range of projects that aim to transform global food systems from fork to farm.”