New data from Avery Dennison indicates that food waste will cost businesses a total of $540 billion (€462,099,299,760) in 2026, with insufficient supply chain visibility playing a major role.
In its new report, Avery Dennison uses independent modelling to suggest that food waste will generate an economic cost of $450 billion across the global supply chain – marking a $14 billion increase from last year.
On average, food waste costs are thought to reach 33% of total revenues in the food retail supply chain every year, from post-farm to the point of sale.
Among 3,500 global food retailers and supply chain leaders surveyed, over half (51%) of business leaders believe that inventory management and overstocking are significant areas of waste generation in their operations – but 61% of respondents told Avery Dennison that they lack full visibility into the points at which food waste is created across their supply chains.
Perishable food appears to be causing trouble for companies. 72% of supply chain leaders point to meat as the most challenging food group when it comes to food waste.
69% of businesses note that managing this waste over the holiday season has become a bigger operational concern than before, with 62% fearing that meat waste from the festive period in 2025 would noticeably reduce their product margins.
Retailers, in particular, face issues related to economic volatility, adaptability to market-related shocks, and adjustment to changing consumer demands. Almost three-quarters (74%) told Avery Dennison that inflation is impacting their ability to predict demand for fresh meat, and 73% say their consumers want smaller meat portions or alternatives.
Economic modelling also predicts that meat waste will generate around $94 billion (€80,398,200,000) in lost output across the global supply chain in 2026 – almost one-fifth of the total cumulative loss across the year. However, Avery Dennison believes that small reductions in waste can unlock ‘significant’ financial gains due to meat’s high unit cost in grocery and food retail.
Meanwhile, 45% respondents identified produce as the most problematic food group. Economic modelling indicates that it will represent $88 billion in lost output across the global supply chain this year. 28% of businesses added that baked goods are a primary source of food waste.
Although awareness is reportedly increasing, the report suggests that many businesses have limited influence over the most waste-intensive areas of their supply chains. Transit is highlighted as a blind spot, with 56% of companies reporting that they lack a clear understanding of the amount of food waste occurring while products are transported.
Avery Dennison adds that the cumulative cost of food waste between 2025 and 2030 could reach $3.4 trillion (€2,908,156,000,000) if current trends continue. This coincides with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which intends to halve global food waste by 2030 – but 27% of businesses fear that they will not meet the deadline.
According to Avery Dennison, businesses will need to unlock demand forecasting, item-level inventory visibility, real-time shelf life management, and similar solutions to overcome these challenges.
“Food waste has become an accepted cost of doing business, but it doesn’t have to be,” says Julie Vargas, VP/GM, Enterprise Intelligent Labels Growth at Avery Dennison. “Innovation exists today to help overcome the complexity of food waste by unlocking new possibilities and transforming a historic operating cost into measurable value across the global retail supply chain.
“The retail ecosystem is changing, but not enough retailers are changing with it. The biggest challenge is what we can’t see. From transit to shelf, blind spots are silently eroding margins.
“With the right innovation, we can turn this loss into measurable value and shift the conversation on food waste, from being purely seen as a sustainability issue, into a business critical one. This is about unlocking efficiency and growth across the entire supply chain.”
“For too long, food waste has been positioned almost exclusively as a sustainability and societal issue,” adds Michael Colarossi, vice president, head of enterprise sustainability, Avery Dennison. “We must recognize it as the business opportunity it truly is.
“In fact, over seven in ten (73%) business leaders told us that they see tackling food waste as a growth opportunity. That’s why the $540 billion in lost value should be a clear call to action for the food retail supply chain to cut waste and boost efficiencies.
“Only by uncovering the blind spots in the chain can we take meaningful steps to reduce loss, build resilience and create lasting value for both businesses and the planet.”
On the topic of food waste, our editor at large, Elisabeth Skoda, recently spoke to Esson Akolo from Tomato Jos on the Packaging Europe podcast. They discussed the agricultural company’s work to refine supply chain processes via modern technology, improved transport packaging, and education programmes, for which it won the SAVE FOOD project competition in 2024.
In other news, Avery Dennison has partnered with Soprema to convert glassine liners into building insulation. The process is hoped to encourage labelling and packaging partners to adopt circular economy principles.
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