Why the food industry should sign up to WRAP's new 'private label' protocols

Today WRAP unveiled its new protocols around the redistribution of private label – also known as own label – produce. This is an area fraught with corporate brand politics which results in literally hundreds of thousands of tonnes of edible surplus food going to waste. Research undertaken by The Bread and Butter Thing before the pandemic showed that between 250,000 to 500,000 tonnes worth of private label food a year is wasted as a result of private label protections. This represents millions of meals. Whilst WRAP’s figures show that this has improved during the past 12 months, it is unlikely that the proportion of food wasted that is own label has altered and there are still opportunities for millions of meals to be redistributed to feed people, not pigs.

So why are retailer approvals such a sticking point?

Here are the two principle reasons why.

The ownership of surplus

Food manufacturers make products for multiple retailers. For example, Greencore, Bakkavor, 2 Sisters et al all create produce for Tesco, Sainsburys, Co-op, Asda and so on.

But when surpluses arise at a manufacturing site, things get complicated. The goods belong to the manufacturer but the brand belongs to the retailer, and it’s the retailer who decides how its brand surpluses can be deployed.

So, if a manufacturer wants to give surplus food to a redistribution organisation they have to get permission from the brand owner – the retailer – to do so. Furthermore they need written evidence of these permissions or they may receive a non-conformance from their food standards auditors.

As Mark Game, TBBT CEO explains: “I have spent the last five years engaging with retailers seeking permissions from them but each retailer has their own way of doing things and their own pace.

“Geography also plays a big part because individual retailers want to visit to audit the redistribution organisation. That’s really easy when the head office is on your doorstep but more complicated when it will take a full day out of the office.

“Then you’ve got to get multiple permissions for them to be meaningful as a manufacturer will need a full complement of retailer permissions. With each manufacturer handling multiple brands, its surplus will accumulate from across its product lines to one designated area. Manufacturers don’t have the time or staff capacity to sort them for each redistribution organisation’s individual permissions. So without a full complement of permissions, surplus edible food which could be used for great social purpose, will still end up in the bin.  

“WRAP’s new protocols standardise this process and encourage retailers to recognise each other’s permissions. If embraced by the retailers, this would smash one of the biggest barriers to redistribution of surplus across the sector.”

Protecting the brand

The second big stumbling block to the redistribution of private label surplus is about brand protection.

The redistribution sector is innovative, creative and dynamic and has evolved hugely in the last decade. As it has developed so has its professionalism and the standards within which they operate, including: being registered food businesses; having food safety guidelines with product recall procedures and HACCP as well as health and safety policies; and, compliant methods of informing consumers of ingredients or allergens as necessary. Redistribution organisations take their responsibility seriously to handle all manner of technical issues to keep things safe.

Mark Game observes: “Our sector is built on trust. It is as mission critical to us to ensure that food is redistributed safely as it is to the brand owners. This goes beyond food hygiene standards to making sure that food goes to its intended recipients.

“You could argue that the reputational risk, and by extension the need for quality assurance, is greater to the redistribution organisation than it is to brand owner as if the brand owner removes permissions then supply will dry up pretty quickly.”

What’s next?

These are clearly knotty issues that the industry has been wrestling with a long time. But WRAP’s work is presenting a clear way forward to reset the balance over private label surplus.

Mark Game concludes: “We’d like to recognise the work that WRAP have put into developing these protocols around private label. They present a genuine opportunity for the industry to make transformative change which will enable us all to ensure that we use surplus food to feed people first.”

You can read the new guidelines in full here:

Best practice on redistributing own-label products within the supply chain | WRAP