Project
From pollution towards circular solution
In Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC), wet food markets have a significant market share. Consumers often turn to these markets especially for fresh foods such as vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. Central de Abasto of Mexico City (CEDA) is one of the largest fresh produce markets in the world.
CEDA is home to approximately 10,000 businesses and is Mexico City's main fresh food supplier. At the same time, CEDA is facing major challenges. It is estimated that CEDA generates an average of 294 tons of food waste per day. Most of this is landfilled.
This project has been started to support CEDA in reducing the amount of waste, preventing food from being dumped and greenhouse gases being emitted. CEDA is supported in a targeted approach in achieving SDG 12.3 and other related SDG goals.
An expert team from Wageningen Food and Biobased Research (part of Wageningen University and Research) will provide CEDA with relevant tools and the necessary knowledge to halve their food waste by 2030 and reduce losses in the production and supply chains, including losses after harvest. Special attention will be paid to establishing baseline data, identifying hotspots (products and chain stages), naming impactful interventions, and creating a toolkit for scaling up. These tailor-made instruments and models will be linked to the 3-step approach "Target - Measure - Act".