Part b) on measures taken before a product has become waste, that reduce the adverse impacts of the eventually generated waste on the environment and health also has some importance. Here though the focus should be on initiatives which reduce upstream environmental impacts caused by food waste rather than downstream impacts. This can be done for example through initiatives which reduce the share of products in food waste which cause a particularly high environmental impact during their production phase. Meat and dairy products are a prime example. The more edible food waste that is avoided in an economy, the less food production that is required to feed the population, with an accompanying reduction in environmental impacts caused during food production.