June 6, 2025

BREADCRUMB Food Marketing Standard Interest Group and External Advisory Board meet together

The BREADCRUMB project hosted its third joint webinar, bringing together members of the Food Marketing Standard Interest Group (FMSIG) and the External Advisory Board (EAB) for a focused exchange on early project results. 

Project partners ILVO and VLTN presented the latest findings, including final reflections on the project’s hypotheses and insights drawn from interviews conducted during the case studies. Discussions centered on estimated levels of food waste linked to food marketing standards and the initial calculation of food waste coefficients.

The online meeting brought together 21 participants, representing a diverse range of stakeholders across the food sector — from civil society and policymakers to food businesses, entrepreneurs, scheme owners, and related EU projects. The combined EAB and FMSIG network now includes 31 active members, reflecting a strong and growing collaborative platform. 

Agenda and Key Takeaways 

The session opened with a welcome and project update, setting the stage for the presentations that followed. Partners shared the latest progress from Work Package 1 (WP1), which focuses on understanding the link between marketing standards and food waste. 

This was followed by a presentation of evidence-based estimates of food waste generated as a result of marketing standards. The meeting concluded with an interactive Q&A, allowing participants to share insights and reflections. 

Key takeaways from the discussion included: 

  • Findings from interviews highlighting how aesthetic and quality standards can lead to product loss at various stages of the food supply chain. 
  • The methodologies used to quantify food waste associated with non-compliance to marketing criteria. 
  • Constructive feedback from the advisory board to guide next steps and inform future policy recommendations. 

This joint meeting of the interest group and advisory board served to share an update on the progress of our project. In this session, we presented and discussed some preliminary project results, including our work on the hypotheses concerning the relationship between food marketing standards and food waste as well as insights from the case studies.  

“We thank all members for their engagement and valuable input — the diversity of perspectives is key to ensuring the BREADCRUMB results have real-world relevance and impact”

— The BREADCRUMB Coordination Team