Costa Cruises has underscored its commitment to recognizing the value of food and cutting waste, marking World Food Day.

Through its “4GoodFood” program, Costa is aiming to half food waste by 2020, 10 years ahead of the UN target.

Costa said that after implementing its new program 18 months ago, that it has reduced food waste by 35 percent.

The program has also enabled support for the “Food Gardens in Africa” project promoted by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, with the adoption of some 100 gardens in Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa and Tanzania.

The company has also donated 150,000 portions of food from the ships, distributed to 12 different charitable associations in partnership with food bank charity Fondazione Banco Alimentare Onlus .

4GOODFOOD is a far-reaching integrated project, starting with a review of the process of the preparation of dishes and actively engaging guests and crew, the company said.  

An integral part of the program is the shipboard communication campaign “Taste don’t Waste,” encouraging responsible consumption in the ships’ buffets.  

Costa has also placed kitchen scales in the galleys and kept a centralized record enabling the real-time mapping, quantification and analysis of wastage at food processing and preparation level.