The project is on track towards its targets and has demonstrated a good flow of activities across work packages, ensuring that scientific and technical progress is consistent with the Description of Action. During the first reporting period (M1–M18), ROSETTA advanced steadily in building the evidence base, engaging stakeholders, and preparing pilot actions to address food waste linked to marketing standards.
Five national MIPs were established in Greece, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, and Poland, engaging over 100 stakeholders across the food value chain, including producers, processors, retailers, policymakers, NGOs, and consumers. A common methodology ensured comparability across use cases while allowing contextual adaptation. A Community of Practice (CoP) and a digital toolkit were also launched to facilitate knowledge exchange and replication.
Comprehensive desk research analysed EU, national, international, and private marketing standards across four food commodities (fruit & vegetables, meat, cereals, dairy) and 11 countries. This included >50 in-depth expert interviews and a consumer survey with 3,500 respondents in 10 EU countries. Findings provided critical insights into how standards shape food waste and consumer acceptance of suboptimal foods.
Using literature reviews, interviews, and supply chain analysis, 13 estimation models of Food Waste were developed to quantify waste attributable to marketing standards in the four selected commodities. Flow charts mapped waste generation points across the value chain.
Building on analysis of promising interventions, 11 alternative marketing models were co-developed using the Sustainable Business Model Canvas. These span preventive, redistribution, and social interventions, integrating economic, environmental, and social benefits. Five national co-creation workshops (March-April 2025) helped refine and validate these models.
The models were assessed for trade-offs between food waste reduction and marketing standards objectives across economic, environmental, and social dimensions. The findings confirm that while trade-offs exist in relation to each marketing standard objective across economic, social and/or environmental impacts, many of the proposed models can deliver clear benefits.
When it comes to the preparation for the Pilot Experimentation, Operational Plans (OPs) were designed for all five use cases, tailored to local contexts.
Initial policy briefs and practice abstracts were produced to synthesise evidence and prepare the ground for policy recommendations on food waste reduction, marketing standards alignment, and valorisation of suboptimal foods.
These achievements ensure that ROSETTA has built a strong technical and scientific foundation for the next phase of pilot implementation, validation, and policy co-creation.
