The meat sector is among the most virtuous, namely one which generates the least waste. It is however appropriate to introduce the concept of social value to identify correctly food waste.

Among the available and examined data there is no information that allows a precise and definitive figure on wastage in the meat chain. However, a survey conducted by Nielsen in 2011 on a panel of 9,000 Italian families estimated the incidence of waste by the consumer for each product sector.

Starting from the value of food purchases, the volume of food availability was calculated and to this volume were then applied the waste percentages reported by the families. The overall domestic waste of Italian families is estimated to be 2.6 million tonnes (about 8% of the total purchased). Of these, the meat and fish sectors have less waste with a value equal to 6% of the total waste.

The better result is attributable to different factors during the various stages of the supply chain. First of all in farming and primary processing waste is reduced due to the fact that any overproduction of meat from the slaughtering plants are easily preserved using freezing systems.

In distribution, the major cause of waste is reaching the expiry date which can be controlled with careful management of the orders to the producers; at this stage one must consider that the highly perishable nature of the product causes waste, because reaching the expiry date or having interruptions in the cooling processes, means that the product no longer meets the health and safety standards.

With regards to domestic consumption, wastage is reduced because the consumer states that he freezes the food to avoid waste (51%) and stocks less food by shopping frequently (49%).

Like in Italy, also in the rest of the world the waste of meat is reduced and the differences between the countries are not particularly evident. However, it is interesting to observe that in industrialized countries the consumer contributes to about 50% of the total waste.

In developing countries losses occur in almost homogeneous amounts throughout the supply chain. Indeed, in the data on sub-Saharan Africa in the primary sector, losses stand out due to the high animal mortality rate caused by frequent diseases to cattle that are not always properly cured.