The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said it is keen to support the campaign by the government-funded Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap) to tackle the fact that consumers in the UK throw away a third of the food they buy.
The programme includes promoting best practice from the UK and overseas, stimulating research and development in to innovative packaging design and portion control, and improving knowledge of how consumers use products, interact with packaging and understand labelling.
The food industry has always argued that the waste reduction campaign must take into account consumer buying, storage and eating habits.
The 'Love Food Hate Waste' campaign is a response to the results of research conducted earlier this year by Wrap, which revealed that UK consumers throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food every year - most of which could have been eaten.
Wrap said it is also working with the supply chain to identify ways of reducing food waste - both before and after it reaches the consumer.
FDF director of communications, Julian Hunt noted that the UK food and drink manufacturing sector launched a five-fold environmental impact reduction plan in October.
"Reducing waste is a key part of that bold plan and we will be working with Wrap, and others, to cut the amount of food and packaging waste that ends up in household bins and landfill," he stated.
FDF's five-fold environmental plan includes achieving a 20 per cent absolute reduction in CO2 emissions by 2010 compared to 1990, and trying to achieve a 30 per cent cut by 2020.
The plan also includes sending zero food and packaging waste to landfill from 2015 and making a contribution to Wrap's work to achieve an absolute reduction in the level of packaging reaching households by 2010 compared to 2005.
FDF members have also committed to providing more advice to consumers on how best to recycle or otherwise recover used packaging.
Industry also plans to achieve significant reductions in water use and contribute to an absolute target to reduce water use by 20 per cent by 2020 compared to 2007.
Companies will also embed environmental standards in transport practices, including contracts with hauliers as they fall for renewal, to achieve fewer food transport miles.
They will also contribute to an absolute target for the food chain to reduce its environmental and social impacts by 20 per cent by 2012 compared to 2002.
The FDF plan is outlined online at: http://www.fdf.org.uk/environment_makingadifference.aspx
