Social norms—unwritten rules shaping daily behavior—play a key role for food waste creation. Recognizing their influence, CHORIZO developed a practical capacity-building programme and an easy-to-use guidance to help food chain actors design effective, norm-based interventions to foster food waste prevention and reduction in their sector. At its core is the “6+2 step approach,” which expands common behaviour change intervention planning with two crucial steps that focus specifically on social norms.

The 8 steps include: (1) define your objective, (2) understand your target group, (3) determine relevant social norms—are they descriptive (what people do) or injunctive (what people feel they should do)?, (4) choose the right approach —do you want to strengthen, change, or create a norm?, (5) plan the intervention, (6) do a reality check, (7) implement, and (8) evaluate the impact.

This CHORIZO approach equips practitioners with a strategy to create targeted, norm-informed actions that tap into existing behaviors or build new habits, making food waste interventions more effective. For those new to food waste reduction, all eight steps offer a clear roadmap to design impactful actions. For experienced professionals, the two social norm-focused steps provide valuable tools to enrich and enhance current practice.  

Being aware of and actively shaping social norms can boost engagement, improve uptake, and lead to lasting reductions in food waste from farm to fork. 

The Food Waste Rapid Appraisal Tool is an easy-to-use, interactive web-based simulator developed as part of the Horizon Europe CHORIZO project. It helps users make informed decisions to reduce food waste by simulating real-world behaviours and environments. The tool includes two behaviourally grounded models: 
- The Establishment Diner model, which simulates food choices and waste behaviours in buffet-style hospitality settings. 
- The Home Cook model, which focuses on food waste dynamics in households, including storage, purchasing, and consumption strategies.

Users can explore 49 ready-made scenarios - 37 for hospitality and12 for households. Each scenario combines key behavioural and contextual factors like plate size, guest composition, sustainability awareness, communication framing, consumption strategies and eating preferences. The tool shows the average food waste amount per guest or household, along with clear, plain-language insights and tailored recommendations.

Designed for policy actors, food service professionals, and researchers, the tool allows users to compare different behavioural scenarios, identify effective interventions, and support capacity building. It highlights how individual motivations, social norms, and structural factors interact to influence food waste outcomes. The tool requires no technical skills, is accessible online, and supports rapid, informed appraisal of food waste prevention strategies across a wide range of settings.

Effectively addressing the global challenge of food loss and waste (FLW) requires more than technological fixes; it demands a deeper understanding of social behaviours and norms that influence food-related practices. The CHORIZO project aims to support food system stakeholders in designing targeted, evidence-based interventions that consider how social norms shape behaviours around FLW.

To this end, CHORIZO provides the FLW Datahub and “Insighter.” The datahub is a central platform storing and providing easy access to empirical data from case studies (surveys, in depth interviews, and experiments) and more about 400 FLW actions in diverse sectors. About half of these actions focus on FLW prevention strategies, the other half tackles aspects of food waste reduction such as re-use and recycling of food. The datahub also provides educational materials and communication resources relevant to promote long-term behavioural shifts.  

The “Insighter” helps stakeholders assess the potential impact of FW strategies by sharing findings on simulated interventions and exploring behaviour change scenarios generated in the project. This builds upon evidence from empirical and simulated data from CHORIZO case studies and leverages the use of behavioural modelling and predictive analytics.  

In conclusion, the datahub and “Insighter” combines data, behavioural insights, and digital innovation to provide researchers, NGOs, food banks, households, food service providers, and educational institutions with a scalable, adaptable framework to drive collective action toward zero food waste across the EU and beyond.

According to the FAO (2024), food losses occur at various stages, including handling and storage (12%), processing (5%), and distribution and marketing (9%). Up to 10% of Food Waste (FW) in the EU is linked to date marking, the confusion surrounding "use by" and "best before" labels often leads consumers to discard food prematurely.

Food industries work under strict rules and laws about food safety, they apply the FIC Regulation with respect to date marks. Nevertheless, many companies recall being influenced by external factors, such as consumer preferences, consumer storage behaviour or the requirements from RETAIL.

It is therefore crucial to understand the role of date marking in FW and study how sustainable and smart packaging can mitigate food waste. Findings highlight that a lack of consumer understanding of expiration dates leads to increased food disposal habits. Furthermore, while smart packaging offers potential benefits, such as extended shelf life and improved food preservation, increase of prices and consumer resistance remains a challenge. Many are unwilling to pay more for these innovations, despite their long-term sustainability benefits. Provide clear information in labels, educate consumers for preserving products and inform about improvements in packaging is vital to induce informed choices taken by consumers and could avoid big amounts of FW. In this context, the influence that the food industry has on consumer behaviour is bigger than expected.

By enhancing awareness and changing behavioural patterns, this study emphasizes the importance of a collaborative approach between consumers, industry, and policymakers to minimize food waste effectively.  

CHORIZO explores how social norms influence food waste (FW) behavior. A Norwegian hotel chain examined: (1) how communication tone (none vs positive vs provocative) impacts FW at breakfast buffets, (2) the effect of staff education on food production and procurement, and (3) differences in consumer FW between buffet and plated lunches at conferences.  

Key findings:

• Communication signs affect guest behaviour. The “Breakfast Experiment” showed that positive messages reduced FW, while provocative ones increased it—especially among leisure guests. Business travellers were less influenced. Messaging must be tailored to guest profiles.

• Chefs’ training and background influence how food is served, prepared, and wasted. Certified chefs showed more structure and responsibility. Language barriers challenged communication for some chefs. While there were no formal FW routines, implicit norms, quality control and reuse of leftovers (e.g., in staff meals) were common practice. Permissive norms allowed flexibility in handling surplus.

• Buffet and plated service both have pros and cons. Buffets lead to guest-driven waste; plated meals risk portion miscalculation. Daily FW varied, showing the complexity of waste generation and the need for oversight throughout the food service chain.

Guest communication significantly affects FW and must be used wisely. Provocative messages can increase waste, while positive messages reduce it. Both serving styles have pros and cons: both need to be optimized. Staff training, operational control, and careful balancing of serving styles are crucial to minimizing food waste.

In light of current consumption patterns, urban settings emerge as food waste (FW) hotspots. CHORIZO research underlines the role of local governments in addressing FW, both directly as food consumers themselves, or indirectly by promoting change among citizens and businesses. 

Measures implemented by cities within their own operations involve: Creating infrastructure for improved planning, storage, and shorter supply chains to enhance efficiency and sufficiency in municipally-operated food services; Raising awareness among personnel, building their capacity and promoting habit change. 

Indirect measures include: Interventions to change consumption habits of actors by making evident the socioeconomic, nutritional, and environmental consequences of FW; Empowering local actors around production, e.g. through community gardens; Engaging and supporting SMEs and HORECA actors with certification schemes and financial aid; Combating food poverty with redistribution initiatives, either by backing existing efforts or leading partnerships. 

Key success factors for municipality-led initiatives are resources (staff and funding), stakeholder mobilization, and effective monitoring systems. Municipal backing significantly enhances the success of community- and private-sector-led efforts.Integrated action is key, combining various levers while addressing FW, nutritional needs, and food security. PPP appears crucial for providing an enabling framework for third parties.

Municipalities are urged to advocate to higher levels of government for strategy advancement and resource allocation. CHORIZO will develop targeted multi-sectoral innovation products to enhance capacity and drive change in urban food systems. 

The CHORIZO project identified 84 interventions pertaining to the redistribution supply chain stage, meaning redistributing surplus food fit for human consumption. These interventions involve a range of actors across the supply chain in order to successfully redistribute surplus food. Often this surplus food is redistributed to charities which make the food available to the needy, or in other cases the surplus food is sold at a discounted rate to consumers. 

There are several key social, economic, and scientific impacts that emerged by way of these interventions, in addition to addressing food waste. Perhaps the most prevalent social impact is that the redistribution efforts provide food to those members of society most in need of it, such as lower-income families. At the socio-economic level, increased collaboration and knowledge-sharing among food redistribution actors has been proven to be paramount to allow for more effective food saving activities. This is particularly evident for those interventions which operate in isolated and different cities/countries and cover the entire supply chain. By leveraging local resources and infrastructure, as well as public-private collaboration, this facilitates the growth of specific skills and jobs in sustainability, which play a crucial role in developing innovative models for food surplus redistribution. At the scientific level, research and innovation is spurred along to preserve the freshness of donated food during storage and transportation, but also the creation of electronic tools (such as apps, online platforms) are evident, allowing for more effective identification, collection, and distribution of surplus food. 

Long version can be found here: https://shre.ink/8NFt 

The CHORIZO project surveyed 395 interventions addressing food loss and waste (14 for primary production; 45 for processing/manufacturing; 45 for retail), bringing key impacts to the fore. 

R&I: Valorisation interventions in processing/manufacturing drive scientific research and innovation for new products. Innovative approaches in primary production focus on prolonging the shelf-life of produce. Innovation in retail is driving the development of apps matching supply and demand, and of monitoring tools tracking various food parameters for smarter supply chain management. 

Increased collaboration. Valorisation demands collaboration across the supply chain, involving suppliers, distributors, and retailers. In retail, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and developers of innovative solutions must align their interests and work together effectively. 

Developing skills and empowering communities. Interventions in primary production, like recovering unharvested produce, and redistributing surplus or aesthetically imperfect foodstuff, combat food insecurity and emphasise nutrition over aesthetics. Retail actions redistributing overstocked or visually imperfect products increase food accessibility and change perceptions, educating consumers on food value while aiding the vulnerable. 

New products and businesses. Valorisation creates new products and jobs, fostering expertise in production and marketing. Retail products and business models relying on digital platforms or new value propositions open new economic avenues. These benefit the local economy, create jobs and offer consumers more choices. 

Chorizo aims to understand the influence of social norms on FW behaviour and to identify descriptive actions to reduce FW. As a part of the project, an empirical case study in Slovenia, targeted at food service consumers, found that most respondents feel that they are not compelled to finish their meals to conform to social norms or avoid negative judgments from others, with 73% of respondents suggesting they don’t feel the need to clean their plates to avoid appearing greedy. However, a significant proportion of respondents acknowledge a connection between dietary aspirations and plate clearing. While taste remains the most important aspect of emptying the plate, results also indicated that portion sizes have proven to be quite important, as individuals who valued portion sizes for meal enjoyment were more sceptical about the measure of reducing portions to minimize food waste. About a third of respondents acknowledged food waste's ethical implications, requesting leftover packaging. 

In addressing FW in the food services sector, various measures were identified, including pre-ordering, promoting taking leftovers home and training the kitchen staff. The findings suggest that price discounts are effective motivators for pre-ordering, and offering a variety of different dishes when ordering ahead can also be a compelling factor for some customers, though it's not a decisive factor for everyone. The strongest motivator for pre-ordering is making it a requirement to reserve a table, with a significant majority of respondents in favour. 

Overall, the findings underscore the complexity of FW reduction efforts in the food services sector, highlighting the interplay between consumer behaviour, social norms, and incentives. 

Food waste presents significant challenges in households and schools, driven by societal norms and practices. Drawing from research, we propose some strategies to mitigate this problem.

In households, social norms heavily influence wasteful behaviors. Consumers often struggle with interpreting food expiration dates and tend to overprepare meals to prevent hunger. Interventions should target these norms by promoting smarter packaging and challenging the belief that excess food is desirable. Recommendations include encouraging meal planning and educating consumers on mindful purchasing, preparation or food storage practices. Additionally, the enabling environment, comprising governments, retailers, and businesses, can support waste reduction through policy interventions, educational initiatives, and community engagement.

Similar behaviors are found in schools, particularly among students. Peer pressure and perceptions of food appearance, texture, and taste contribute to wastage. Interventions should prioritize open communication between parents and students and integrate food system awareness into educational activities. Collaboration among students, parents, teachers, and canteen staff is key. Students can support each other in accepting less visually appealing foods, parents can involve students in lunch preparation, teachers can supervise meal breaks, and canteen personnel can promote balanced eating habits and provide educational materials. Government initiatives are crucial in creating an enabling environment for waste reduction in schools.

In conclusion, addressing food waste necessitates a comprehensive approach that considers social norms, behaviors, and environmental factors.