“A campaign for all food served to be eaten” is now spreading throughout Japan.
A pioneer of the campaign is Fukui prefecture which launched a movement of “Eat all foods to be served!” in 2006.
As many as 1,239 restaurants and retail shops joined the campaign against the food loss in the Fukui prefecture by selling smaller portions of dishes and small-sized packs of foods to consumers. The campaign has become common among the people of the prefecture.
Nagano prefecture followed Fukui by promoting a similar campaign of reducing food waste in 2010.
According to a survey conducted by the Nagano Prefectural Government, an average amount of general waste per person per day decreased from 862 grams in fiscal 2010 to 838 grams in fiscal 2014, hitting a record low in the country.
By the fiscal year of 2016, 201 municipalities in 44 prefectures took part in the campaign.
At these cities and towns, promotion councils of the campaign for all food served to be eaten have been set up to exercise leadership in reducing wastes of foods, which will be threw away even though they are still eatable.
More than 6.32 million tons of food loss was tallied in fiscal 2013 according to statistics published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.