15m tonnes of food is wasted in the UK every year Supermarkets have been urged to end "buy one get one free" offers to reduce the "morally repugnant" amount of food being thrown away by shoppers.A report by the House of Lords European Union Committee says 15m tonnes of food is wasted in the UK each year.
Retailers are also told to behave more responsibly with farmers and avoid cancelling orders at the last minute.
The peers also criticised the EU's "fragmented and untargeted" attempts to tackle the problem.
More surplus food should be passed to charities and food banks, the committee said.
'Urgent action'Its report said retailers were able to "pass on" food waste "from the store to the household" by the use of special offers such as "buy one get one free".
"It is clear that retailers must assume a far greater responsibility for the prevention of food waste in the home", it said.
Committee chairwoman Baroness Scott of Needham Market said food waste was "clearly a huge issue" in the UK and Europe.
She said: "Not only is it morally repugnant, but it has serious economic and environmental implications.
"The fact that 90m tonnes of food is wasted across the EU each year shows the extent of the problem and explains why we are calling for urgent action."
Their demands include a five-year plan by the European Commission to reduce waste across the EU.
The amount of food discarded by consumers in industrialised nations is equivalent to nearly the entire level of net food production of sub-Saharan Africa, the committee said.
Its report said more education was needed for consumers after peers were told only 37% of people knew the difference between "best before" and "use by" dates on food packaging.
Household budgetsFood can still be sold after its best-before date, while a use-by date is used on "highly perishable" products likely to become dangerous after a short period of time.
Lady Scott added: "There is also much that can be done domestically, and in particular by the big retailers, to reduce food waste.
"We are urging the supermarkets to look again at offers such as 'buy one get one free', which can encourage excess consumption which leads to food waste.
"We also think supermarkets must work much more closely with their suppliers so as not to cancel pre-ordered food which has been grown, is perfectly edible and is then ploughed straight back into the field."