The effect of food prices on fruit and vegetable food waste in private households

Despite numerous studies on private households' food waste behaviour, the effect of food prices on food waste generation is still not well understood. This study provides empirical estimates on the effect of food prices on avoidable fresh fruit and vegetable food waste. This is the first time that results of this kind, based on an extensive and recent dataset, are being presented. We used data on the waste of 35 fresh fruit and vegetable food items documented in food waste diaries by 6696 different households observed in 2016/17 and 2020 in Germany. We applied a mixed-effects model to account for the crossed data structure between observed food items and participating households. After controlling for time and seasonality effects as well as for household-specific characteristics, we find a 10 % higher food price to be associated with 1 % less waste of fresh fruit and vegetables. In an extended version of our mixed-effects model, we disentangled this effect for two kinds of price variation and their association with food waste: We distinguish price differences between food items and price changes within food items over time. We find a significant and severe negative effect of price differences between fresh fruit and vegetable food items: A 10 %-price difference between two food items is associated with 7 % less food waste for the more expensive food item. In contrast, we do not identify any relevant effect of price changes within a food item over time on food waste. We discuss potential implications for policy proposals like a reduction of the value-added tax rate for fruits and vegetables.