International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
A/RES/74/209
A/RES/74/209
This authority record treats the observance as a fixed annual date. The same month and day can be reused unless a stronger source changes the rule. Public-holiday or government status is never inferred from the observance name alone.
Overview
International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste is observed on 29 September. The United Nations General Assembly established the day through resolution A/RES/74/209 in 2019, with the first observance held in 2020.
The day connects food security, resource efficiency and environmental sustainability. FAO and UNEP now co-convene or lead annual observance activity across the food supply chain, from production and storage to retail, food service and households.
Why it matters
Food loss and food waste occur at different points in food systems, so reducing them requires more than asking households to throw away less. Harvesting, storage, transport, processing, retail practices, portioning and consumer behaviour can all contribute.
A useful observance should focus on prevention and better use of food and resources before disposal. Activities can also connect reduction efforts with food security, climate action and Sustainable Development Goal target 12.3 without implying that one intervention solves every part of the food system.
History
Andorra and San Marino submitted the original draft resolution for an international day in October 2019; the revised draft later gained broad co-sponsorship.
On 19 December 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/74/209, designating 29 September as the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.
FAO documented the first inaugural observance on 29 September 2020. FAO and UNEP have since served as the principal UN agencies leading or co-convening the annual day.
How the observance developed
This timeline is assembled only from verified provenance fields. Missing stages are omitted rather than inferred.
Andorra and San Marino
The UN Digital Library identifies Andorra and San Marino as the authors of the original draft resolution A/C.2/74/L.8.
United Nations General Assembly
UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/74/209
First documented observance
FAO and UNEP first-observance material identifies 29 September 2020 as the inaugural International Day.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Current UN and UNEP material identifies FAO and UNEP as the leading/co-convening agencies for the annual observance.
What the evidence establishes
Verified institutional roles and milestones are shown first. Fields that the reviewed sources do not establish remain fail-closed and are available below without competing with the confirmed record.
3 fields not established in reviewed sources
Ways to observe
Measure one week of avoidable food waste in a household, cafeteria or workplace and separate preventable waste from unavoidable scraps before choosing an intervention.
Trace one food item through production, storage, transport, retail and consumption to identify where losses can occur and which actor can realistically reduce them.
Improve planning, storage, portioning, redistribution or donation practices in a way that follows local food-safety rules and does not treat unsafe food as recoverable.
Use a school or community activity to connect food-loss reduction with water, land, energy and labour used to produce food, while avoiding unsupported global statistics unless they are sourced and dated.
Useful facts
The observance falls on 29 September each year.
The UN General Assembly established the day through resolution A/RES/74/209 on 19 December 2019.
Andorra and San Marino submitted the original draft resolution, which later received broad co-sponsorship.
The first observance took place on 29 September 2020.
FAO and UNEP lead or co-convene current UN observance activity.
Topic and context
What this page does not assume
- Keep the source-defined country, community, organizer or institutional scope; do not silently broaden it.
- Do not treat the title alone as proof of government recognition or public-holiday status.
- Do not add a creator, founding story or origin claim unless the supporting evidence establishes it.
Evidence & sources
Repeated links from the authority record, institutional provenance and editorial guide research are consolidated here. Badges show how each source is used; a contextual source is never treated as proof of establishment on its own.
United Nations Digital Library — A/RES/74/209 (opens in a new tab)
United Nations Digital Library — original draft A/C.2/74/L.8 (opens in a new tab)
FAO — First International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (opens in a new tab)
UNEP — UN and partners initiatives on food loss and waste (opens in a new tab)
United Nations — Food Loss and Waste Reduction observance page (opens in a new tab)
United Nations — List of International Days and Weeks (opens in a new tab)
United Nations — Observances: who chooses them and how (opens in a new tab)
Understand it, compare it, then explore further
Start with the most common factual questions, then use reviewed distinctions and related authority records to understand where this observance fits.
Frequently asked questions
When is International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste?
29 September The stored recurrence guidance is: 29 September.
Does International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste fall on the same date every year?
The authority record classifies it as fixed annual, so its month and day are reusable unless stronger evidence changes the rule.
Is International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste an official public holiday?
The authority record verifies it within this scope: FAO / UNEP / United Nations / international observance. That recognition does not by itself make it a statutory public holiday; the site only makes public-holiday claims when the supporting authority record explicitly does so.
Who established or recognizes International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste?
The reviewed provenance layer identifies United Nations General Assembly as the proclaiming or establishing body. The proposer or originator is recorded separately as Andorra and San Marino. Current facilitation or coordination is recorded as Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Is International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste international or country-specific?
The record has international or global institutional scope: FAO / UNEP / United Nations / international observance. That does not mean every country treats the date as a public holiday or observes it in the same way.
How is this page verified?
The factual layer is source-backed and keeps its date rule, scope, provenance and editorial guardrails attached to the authority record. This record was checked on 2026-09-05.
When did the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste begin?
The General Assembly established it in December 2019, and the first observance was held on 29 September 2020.
Who leads the UN observance?
FAO and UNEP are the principal UN agencies leading or co-convening current observance activity.
Why is the day on 29 September?
The establishing resolution designates 29 September, but the reviewed first-party sources do not provide a sufficiently explicit historical reason for selecting that exact date, so the guide does not invent one.
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