Why track food waste?
Food waste costs a food business twice: once when the food is bought and again when it is thrown away. Food that passes its use-by date, spoils in storage or comes back on plates points to problems you can fix. The FSA's SFBB pack lists wasting less food as one of the benefits of good food-safety management, and says not having too much stock is best for food safety and for your profits.
What to record
- The item: ingredient, prepared food or dish.
- How much: weight, portions or units.
- Why it was wasted: out of date, spoiled, over-produced, preparation waste, dropped or plate waste.
- Its cost: an estimate is enough to see where money is going.
- When: the date, so you can compare days and weeks.
After a few weeks, the pattern usually shows where to act: order less of a slow item, adjust portions, improve stock rotation or change how food is stored.
Food waste and food safety
Waste records also support food safety. SFBB says it is against the law to serve food after its use-by date, and recommends regular stock checks to throw away food that has passed it. Recording what was thrown away shows that out-of-date food is being removed rather than used.
Separating food waste: the recycling rules
- England: under Simpler Recycling, workplaces must separate food waste, dry recyclables and general waste. This applied from 31 March 2025 for businesses with 10 or more full-time equivalent employees. Micro-firms with fewer than 10 have until 31 March 2027.
- Wales: since 6 April 2024, workplaces must separate recycling. Premises producing more than 5kg of food waste a week must separate it, and food waste must not go down the sink or drain, including through macerators.
- Scotland and Northern Ireland: have their own food waste rules; check with your council or waste collector.
