# Second Harvest CEO calls for better measurement of Canada’s food waste

> Lori Nikkel said gaps in measurement and standardisation obscure how food waste is distributed across the supply chain.

- Canonical URL: https://newsverum.com/en/news/lori-nikkel-canada-food-waste-interview-2026
- Publisher: Newsverum
- Section: Business
- Country: Canada
- Published: 2026-10-06T15:40:03+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-07T05:58:08+03:00
- Source review period: 2026-06-23
- Other editions: [Türkçe](https://newsverum.com/tr/news/lori-nikkel-canada-food-waste-interview-2026.md), [العربية](https://newsverum.com/ar/news/lori-nikkel-canada-food-waste-interview-2026.md), [Français](https://newsverum.com/fr/news/lori-nikkel-canada-food-waste-interview-2026.md), [Español](https://newsverum.com/es/news/lori-nikkel-canada-food-waste-interview-2026.md), [Deutsch](https://newsverum.com/de/news/lori-nikkel-canada-food-waste-interview-2026.md), [Português](https://newsverum.com/pt/news/lori-nikkel-canada-food-waste-interview-2026.md)

*The source does not state the event date; the period shown is the source review period.*

Second Harvest CEO Lori Nikkel said in an interview published June 23 that much of Canada’s food waste occurs upstream in production, processing and manufacturing rather than in households. Citing research updated by the organisation in 2025, she said the share of food produced that was wasted fell from 58% in 2019 to about 46.5% in 2025.

Nikkel argued that businesses need consistent definitions and measurement methods for those estimates to be comparable. In the interview she also described a surplus of 22 million pounds of potatoes that would take roughly 340 truckloads to move; these are organisational research and operational figures as relayed by the CEO, not official national statistics.

## Data

### Food waste share in Second Harvest research

Comparison cited by the CEO from the organisation’s research updated in 2025.

Methodology: Reports the organisation’s estimates as presented in the interview; it does not independently verify their method or treat them as official national statistics. The 2025 value is approximate.

| label | value | unit | period | basis | value_qualifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of produced food wasted | 46.5 | percent | 2025 | estimate | approximate |

Sources: <https://www.readthepeak.com/p/water-cooler-with-lori-nikkel> · Download data: [JSON](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/lori-nikkel-canada-food-waste-interview-2026/data/food-waste-share-second-harvest-estimate?lang=en&format=json) · [CSV](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/lori-nikkel-canada-food-waste-interview-2026/data/food-waste-share-second-harvest-estimate?lang=en&format=csv)

## Sources

- [The Peak](<https://www.readthepeak.com/p/water-cooler-with-lori-nikkel>) (Source checked: 2026-10-06; Published: 2026-06-23)

## Correction history

- 2026-10-07T00:49:37+03:00: German and Portuguese editions and translations of the data and correction explanations have been added to this article.
- 2026-10-07T05:58:08+03:00: Data classification corrected: measure identifiers and types now follow the dataset rules. No figure, unit or date changed.

---

Cite the canonical URL above. [Editorial standards and corrections](https://newsverum.com/en/editorial)