Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on UK consumers to stop making “unnecessary” food purchases, in an effort to curb almost £1 billion of food wasted each year.

Speaking on his way to the G8 summit in Japan, Brown said: “If we are to get food prices down, we must do more to deal with unnecessary demands, such as by all of us doing more to reduce our food waste.”

A Government study has found that 4 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK, which adds£420 to the average family’s annual shopping bill.

At G8 this week, food will be one of the key issues on the agenda, alongside soaring oil prices and global economic turbulence.

If you have any comment to make on this story, click here.

Topics