Canada wastes so much food that you might as well throw a quarter of your groceries away when you leave the supermarket. By far the worst culprits aren’t ordinary shoppers like us, but huge food processors like Saputo,  the dairy giant behind Cracker Barrel and Neilson milk. 

Their wasteful practices mean that perfectly good fruit, vegetables and dairy products are dumped in to rot in landfill before they even reach grocery shelves. 

It’s gotten so bad that other mega-food processors like Kraft Heinz and Unilever have had to sign on to the food waste pledge: an ambitious commitment to cut their food waste in half by 2025. But Saputo is refusing to budge.  A huge public outcry now would show Saputo that its customers are angry and we won’t go away until they sign on too. 

Food waste isn’t just about tossing perfectly good food. It wastes a huge amount of water and energy which we just can’t afford to waste. It pumps eyewatering levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere: the equivalent generated by 41 million cars driven on the road continuously for a year. 

So reducing food waste is a no brainer. Saputo is one of the largest food processors in Canada, owning brands like Crack Barrel, Neilsen, Woolwich Dairy and Armstrong, but it’s been eerily silent on the issue of food waste.  But we can change that. 

It’s up to SumOfUs members to force them to the table. It’s not like we haven’t done it before. When we found out that Walmart was throwing away tonnes of food that could be eaten, over 58,000 SumOfUs members pressured the food mega-giant to donate this food to charity. And your pressure worked! Walmart now works with food diversion programs to stop food waste and help those in need. 

With retailers starting to do their part, now we have to focus behind the scenes and stop food waste in the processing plants. And I’ve seen the amazing strength of what people-power can do so I’m confident that, together, we’ll ensure Saputo clean up its acts.