Weinbergmaier boss

“Virtually nothing is thrown away”

179 kilos of food are thrown away per person in the European Union every year. What can be done to stop the "big throwaway"? Gerald Spitzer, Managing Director of Weinbergmaier in Wolfern (Upper Austria), talks to the "Krone" newspaper about customers, saving energy and the benefits of frozen food.

Weinbergmaier is a big player when it comes to frozen foods: 15 million yeast dumplings are produced in Wolfern every year on seven production lines, as well as enormous quantities of Kaiserschmarrn, pancakes, semolina dumplings and pancakes.

"We supply around 60 per cent of our products to the catering and hotel industry," says Managing Director Gerald Spitzer about the company behind brands such as "Toni Kaiser" and "Bauernland", which processed 3,000 tons of flour, 450 tons of eggs and 600,000 liters of milk in Wolfern last year.

A lot is being done for sustainability: thanks to a new refrigeration system for Kaiserschmarrn production, the company is much more energy-efficient, emphasizes Spitzer.

Around one million tons of food thrown away every year
He gives frozen products a very good report card when it comes to reducing food waste: "Almost nothing is thrown away with frozen food. This is because it has a very long shelf life and can be easily portioned." Every year, around one million tons of food ends up in the bin in Austria.