Food businesses in the European Union are preparing for a carbon-neutral future by gradually transitioning to a circular way of operating. Building upon results from the EU REFRESH project, we consider the most valuable food processing by-streams in Europe and discuss potential food safety risks that must be considered while valorizing them for human consumption. These risks are weighed against the nutritional benefits offered by these products and their potential applications in food supply chains. Broadly, we examine whether it is possible for spent grains, cheese whey, fruit and vegetable scraps, meat processing waste, and oilseed cakes and meals to be safe, sustainable, and nutritionally valuable at the same time. The discussion highlights that valorizing by-products obtained from food processing operations is feasible on a large scale only if consumers deem it to be a safe and acceptable practice. Extracting valuable compounds from by-products and using them in the preparation of functional foods could be a way to gain consumer acceptance. Furthermore, we find that current EU food safety legislation does not sufficiently accommodate food processing by-products. A way to bridge this regulatory gap could be through the adoption of private food safety standards that have shown proclivity for sustainability-related issues in food supply chains. Finally, by proposing a decision tree, we show that it is indeed feasible for some food processing by-products to be valorized while ensuring sustainability, food safety, and nutritional relevance.

Private food safety standards have become an important governance mechanism in contemporary food supply chains. While much has been written about private standards from the perspectives of different academic fields, there has never been a dedicated literature review to examine their interaction with global food supply chains. In this systematic review, 45 peer reviewed articles on private food standards, selected through extensive searches in four academic databases are critically appraised. Our analysis reveals that the most studied European private food safety standards are owned by retail conglomerates and therefore place the retail sector in a position of influence in the supply chain. These standards influence supply chain structures, market access, and the efficiency of food safety management systems. They also challenge the traditional relationship shared by actors in the supply chain with public authorities and the World Trade Organization. In the recent years, their scope has expanded to include topical issues such as environmental sustainability, worker safety, and animal welfare. Overall, the review suggests that European private food safety standards alter the operations of modern agri-food supply chains to accommodate consumer wishes while allowing the retail sector to exert its influence without taking on additional legal and economic liability.

The repurposing of surplus food and food processing by-products is a key aspect of the shift towards a circular bioeconomy. In the Netherlands, food supply chain actors are already working towards making better use of agri-food surpluses to improve food security and resource efficiency. By analysing the experiences of these actors, this study aims to identify the current state of the sector and highlight barriers and enablers of successful food waste valorisation. Based on a phenomenological analysis of 16 in-depth unstructured interviews with participants from the Netherlands, we empirically demonstrate that supply chain actors involved in food waste valorisation consider local embedding, societal perception, and food safety to be important aspects of their work. They often grapple with legislative and logistical uncertainties and face various ethical dilemmas such as having to pay for products that were once considered waste. Building on these findings, we propose that experienced professionals with a penchant for sustainability can play the role of ‘transition brokers’ as the food system moves towards a circular way of operating. We also posit that private standards and voluntary agreements could be a way for the sector to better manage the various bottlenecks that are characteristic of food waste valorisation endeavours.

Retail corporations orchestrate much of what happens in today’s food supply chains. From setting sky-high cosmetic standards for fresh produce to bundling off close-to-expiry products at discounted prices, retail’s contribution to food waste often extends beyond its in-store numbers. By occupying a powerful position in a globalised food system, these corporations enable chronic overproduction and consequently, the removal of surplus food from supply chains. This, in turn, contributes to the unfair distribution and overexploitation of food resources, further exacerbating the globally pervasive problem of food insecurity. To realise the right to food and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of halving global per capita food waste by 2030, we argue that retail corporations must be held accountable for their direct and indirect contribution to food waste. We posit that to make a tangible difference, they must move away from the current voluntary corporate social responsibility approach to food waste reduction and instead invest in robust due diligence mechanisms and transparent reporting systems in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the upcoming EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Based on Pillar II of the Guiding Principles, we propose a five-step approach to accountability for food waste that may lead to serious actions towards the relaxation of cosmetic standards, abolition of unfair trading practices, and improvement in demand forecasting, thereby reducing the volume of food that ends up as waste.

Purpose: In this case study, we examine how a citrus peel valorising company based in the Netherlands was able to adopt a circular business model while navigating regulatory, managerial, and supply chain-related barriers.Design/methodology/approach: In-depth, semi-structured interviews with key personnel in the company, notes from field observations, photographs of the production process, and documents from a legal judgement served as data for this single, qualitative case study. Data were coded inductively using the in vivo technique and were further developed into four themes and a case description.Findings: Results from our study indicate that the regulatory and political contexts in the Netherlands were critical to the company’s success. Like in the case of most fruitful industrial symbioses, partnerships founded on mutual trust and economically appealing value propositions played a crucial role in ensuring commercial viability. Collaborating with larger corporations and maintaining transparent communication with stakeholders were also significant contributing factors. Lastly, employees’ outlook towards circularity combined with their willingness to learn new skills were important driving factors as well.Originality/value: In addition to expanding the scholarship on the adoption of circular business models, this research offers novel insights to policymakers and practitioners. It provides empirical evidence regarding the importance of public awareness, adaptable legislation, and harmonised policy goals for supporting sustainable entrepreneurship in the circular economy.

This paper explores how UK-based companies deal with their responsibility to respect the human rights of Assam (India) tea plantation workers. Through qualitative content analysis of publicly available corporate reports and other documents, it investigates how companies approach and communicate their potential human rights impacts. It highlights the gap between well-documented human rights issues on the ground and corporate reports on these issues. It aims to answer the following research question: in a context where the existence of human rights violations at the end of the supply chain is well-documented, how do companies reconcile their possible connection with those violations and the corporate responsibility to respect human rights under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights? This paper reveals the weakness of the current corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach from the perspective of rights-holders. It supports a business and human rights approach, one that places the protection of human rights at its core.