EU support to Stakeholders to improve measurement of food waste and help implement food waste prevention in their operations and organisation - 2026-2...

This call SMP-FOOD-2026 under the Single Market Programme offers action grants to support implementation of food waste prevention and valorisation of side streams. The total call budget is €4,000,000 with an estimated EU contribution around €300,000 per project, funding rate 50 percent, grant type budget-based mixed actual cost and indirect costs covered by a 7 percent flat rate. Projects of 18 to 24 months are eligible from legal entities established in EU Member States including overseas countries and territories, targeting food business operators in the middle of the supply chain, food banks, redistribution organisations, researchers and NGOs, with consortia allowed and at least one SME representative recommended. Submission is electronic via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal by 15 October 2026, 17:00 CET and proposals are evaluated on Relevance, Quality and Impact with an overall threshold of 70 out of 100 and must apply the Target-Measure-Act approach and publish final results on the EU Food Loss and Waste Prevention Hub.

What it funds

Scope and activities

Action grants to support implementation of food waste prevention and valorisation by stakeholders (manufacturers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, food banks, redistribution organisations, NGOs, researchers). Funded activities include diagnostics, target-setting, implementation of prevention measures, reprocessing/valorisation of side streams, digital tools, packaging/labelling innovations, capacity building and dissemination of best practices.

Typical project size and budget:Estimated call budget €4 000 000. Project requests are expected around €300 000 (no fixed ceiling). Funding is budget-based mixed actual costs with an indicative funding rate of 50% ¹.

1. 1Who can apply: legal entities (public or private) established in eligible countries (EU Member States and OCTs); international organisations eligible; natural persons generally not eligible except self-employed where entity has no separate legal personality
2. 2Consortia or single beneficiaries accepted; for consortia one beneficiary should be an SME representative; associated partners, affiliated entities, subcontractors allowed
3. 3Project duration normally 18 to 24 months; expected start after grant signature; financial and operational capacity checks apply

Submission:single-stage electronic submission via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Proposals must follow the SMP FOOD application templates (Part A and Part B) and include required annexes. Projects must apply the Target-Measure-Act approach and make final evaluation results publicly available via the EU Food Loss and Waste Prevention Hub.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call documentation, eligibility rules, budget model and Model Grant Agreement are on the topic page: SMP-FOOD-2026-FW-STAKEHOLDERS-PJ

Call title:EU support to Stakeholders to improve measurement of food waste and help implement food waste prevention in their operations and organisation - 2026-2027. Call identifier: SMP-FOOD-2026. Managing authority: European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) on behalf of the Single Market Programme (SMP Food). Call opening date: 16 June 2026. Submission deadline: 15 October 2026, 17:00 CET. Topic and call documentation, templates and the submission system are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Topic page.

Summary of scope, objectives and expected outcomes

Objective:to support the implementation of effective food waste prevention initiatives by stakeholders in the food supply chain in 2026-2027. The call targets actions that prevent and reduce food waste in operations and organisations, and actions to process, reprocess or valorise side streams and recovered surplus food into new products for redistribution or other uses (commercial or non-commercial). Priority is given to interventions at source and redistribution for human consumption in line with the food use and waste hierarchy. Technologies, organisational/management innovations, digital tools, labelling and packaging solutions, and collaborative multi-stakeholder approaches are eligible. Food donation to feed uses (i.e., transfer to animal feed) and waste treatment such as composting are out of scope.

Expected impacts:Prevent and reduce amounts of food waste generated by participating organisations; produce measurable environmental, economic and social benefits; share results as best practices via the EU Food Loss and Waste Prevention Hub; provide publicly available final evaluation and case study materials. Projects should report KPIs (e.g. tonnes reduced, outreach, changes in knowledge/behaviour).

Eligibility and applicant profile

Eligible entities:legal persons (public or private bodies) established in eligible countries. Natural persons are not eligible except self-employed natural persons where the company has no separate legal personality. International organisations may participate. Entities must be registered in the Participant Register and validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation) prior to submission. Associated partners, subcontractors and third parties giving in-kind contributions may participate in other roles. Entities subject to EU restrictive or conditionality measures are ineligible. EU bodies (except the European Commission Joint Research Centre) cannot be part of the consortium.

Who the call targets:Primary target groups: food business operators in the middle of the supply chain (manufacturers/processors, wholesalers, retailers), food banks and redistribution organisations, multi-stakeholder collaborations across the chain, NGOs and researchers. Single-actor projects and consortia are both accepted; in consortia one beneficiary should be an SME representative.

1. 1Eligible applicant types: SMEs (including SME owners), large enterprises, food business operators, food banks and redistribution organisations, universities, research institutes, NGOs and public bodies (regional and national authorities). International organisations may participate. Natural persons generally not eligible except self-employed where no separate legal personality exists.
2. 2Funding type: action grants (budget-based mixed actual cost grant) under the Single Market Programme (SMP) — SMP Project Grants (SMP-PJG).
3. 3Consortium requirement: single beneficiary (mono-beneficiary) allowed; multi-beneficiary consortia allowed. For consortia, one beneficiary should be an SME representative. Consortium may be private or public-private. Associated partners, subcontractors and affiliated entities may take part but must be validated where relevant.
4. 4Beneficiary geographic scope: EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories). International participation is allowed exceptionally if essential; international organisations are eligible. Entities from countries negotiating association to SMP may participate if association is concluded before grant signature and covers the call.
5. 5Target sectors: food supply chain, food processing/manufacturing, wholesale, retail, hospitality/food services, food redistribution (food banks), packaging and labelling, cold chain/storage/transport, digital tools and ICT for traceability and inventory management, innovation in processing/valorisation, and social innovation.
6. 6Mentioned / targeted countries: EU Member States (explicit); overseas countries and territories; international organisations (explicitly eligible); countries negotiating association (subject to conditions). No specific Member States singled out in the topic text.
7. 7Project stage and maturity: near-to-market and implementation-ready solutions are prioritised; actions may include development/testing/demonstration in close-to-market, industrial or commercial scale. Projects should implement Target-Measure-Act cycle (initial diagnosis, targets/KPIs, implementation, final evaluation).
8. 8Project duration: typically 18 to 24 months (extensions possible with justification).
9. 9Indicative funding amount: estimated total call budget €4,000,000. Typical requested grant amounts expected to be around €300,000 per project, but proposals requesting different amounts are allowed; final grant may be lower than requested. Funding rate: 50% of eligible costs (fixed in the Grant Agreement).
10. 10Application type and submission: single-stage open call. Submission exclusively electronic via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (no paper submissions).
11. 11Nature of support: monetary (grant funding to reimburse eligible costs) — budget-based mixed actual cost grant with unit-cost and flat-rate elements. Financial support to third parties is NOT allowed under this call. Non-monetary support: beneficiaries must share results via EU platforms and may be invited to webinars and EU Platform on FLW events.
12. 12Application stages: one-stage submission with a one-step evaluation. Successful proposals invited to grant preparation with legal and financial checks (legal entity validation, financial capacity, exclusion checks).
13. 13Evaluation and award: evaluation against award criteria (Relevance 40 pts, Quality 40 pts, Impact 20 pts). Individual thresholds: 28/40, 28/40, 14/20; overall threshold 70/100. Ranking and prioritisation rules apply for ex aequo proposals. Reserve list maintained.
14. 14Success rates: not provided in call documents. Selection is competitive; estimated available budget €4,000,000 and typical project requests ~€300,000 can be used by applicants to estimate potential number of awards, but no formal success rate is published.
15. 15Co-funding requirement: the grant funds up to the funding rate (50%) of eligible costs. Applicants must ensure balanced budget and available additional resources (own contributions, other funding, income generated by action) to cover remaining eligible costs. No mandatory minimum co-funding percentage beyond the funding rate principle but beneficiaries must present realistic budget and financing.

Activities that can be funded

Eligible activities (non-exhaustive list):interventions to prevent/reduce food waste in the middle of the supply chain; collaborative multi-actor pilots; consumer-targeted actions to reduce waste in and out of home; organisational and social innovation (management/coordination); processing/reprocessing and valorisation of side streams and recovered surplus into new food products; development and demonstration of innovative technologies, packaging, labelling and digital tools; improvements in traceability, storage and transport; capacity building and training for food banks and redistribution organisations; IT solutions to manage inventory and donations; demonstrators and close-to-market scale demonstrations. All activities must respect EU and national food safety and labelling legislation. Activities transferring food to animal feed or focusing on waste treatment (e.g. composting) are not covered.

Target-Measure-Act approach required:Proposals must describe the application of the Target-Measure-Act approach across four steps: initial food waste diagnosis identifying hotspots (baseline may be previous diagnosis), setting SMART targets and KPIs, implementing actions addressing hotspots, and final evaluation with publicly available results (executive summary, final report, short case study). Food bank projects may adapt the approach but must include at minimum an initial diagnosis and a final evaluation.

Financial, administrative and contractual conditions

Form of grant:budget-based mixed actual cost grant with elements of unit costs and flat rates. Funding rate: 50% (fixed in Grant Agreement). Eligible cost categories: personnel (employees, natural persons under direct contract, seconded persons, SME owner/natural person beneficiaries via unit cost), subcontracting, purchases (travel and subsistence unit costs, equipment depreciation or full cost where specified), other goods/services, indirect costs (flat-rate 7% of eligible direct costs A-D except volunteers and exempted categories). Non-deductible VAT eligible where applicable. Financial support to third parties is not allowed under this call. Grants must not generate profit; for-profit organisations must declare revenues.

Maximum grant, budget and payments:the call has an estimated total budget of €4,000,000. Requested grant amounts are expected around €300,000 but other amounts accepted. Prefinancing normally paid after signature (typically 50% of maximum grant) unless otherwise decided; interim payment(s) and final payment after acceptance of final reports and financial statements. Certificates on financial statements may be required depending on thresholds set in the Grant Agreement. Prefinancing guarantees and enhanced financial regimes may be requested if financial capacity is not satisfactory.

Project administrative requirements:Submission requirements: proposals must be submitted via the Portal in three parts: Part A (administrative) completed online; Part B (technical description) uploaded as PDF using the SMP FOOD standard template; mandatory annexes uploaded (detailed budget calculator, CVs of core team, activity report for last year, list of previous key projects in last 4 years). Part B page limits and layout follow template and call document; proposals shorter than 30 pages (Part B) are welcome. Proposals missing required annexes or not using the Submission System templates risk inadmissibility. Applicants must confirm mandate to act and sign declaration of honour at submission and again before signature of grant. Supporting documents may be requested during grant preparation for legal entity validation and financial capacity checks.

1. 1Admissibility: electronic submission before deadline via Portal only; uploaded documents must be readable, accessible and printable.
2. 2Eligibility: legal entities from eligible countries (EU Member States incl. OCTs) and international organisations; natural persons generally excluded except self-employed.
3. 3Consortium requirements: mono- or multi-beneficiary allowed; in consortia an SME representative should be included; multi-stakeholder collaborations encouraged.
4. 4Duration: normally 18 to 24 months (project start date fixed in Grant Agreement).
5. 5Reporting deliverables: final report (max 20 pages) and executive summary in the language of the Grant Agreement; short case study (up to 5 pages). All must be published on the EU Food Loss and Waste Prevention Hub. Other deliverables set in Annex 1 of Grant Agreement.

Evaluation and award

Evaluation procedure:single-stage submission and one-step evaluation. Evaluation by committee (external experts possible). Formal checks for admissibility and eligibility first; eligible proposals evaluated on award criteria: Relevance (40 points), Quality (40 points), Impact (20 points). Individual thresholds per criterion: Relevance >=28, Quality >=28, Impact >=14. Overall pass score >=70/100. Ranking and prioritisation rules for ex aequo scores are applied; successful proposals invited to grant preparation which includes legal validation, financial capacity checks and possible modifications to the proposal. Invitation to grant preparation is not a formal funding commitment; final signature follows successful completion of checks.

Templates, forms and how to apply

Required templates and documents are available in the Submission System:standard SMP FOOD application form Part B template (technical description), detailed budget template/calculator (Annex 1 to Part B), administrative forms Part A are generated online. Model Grant Agreement (SMP MGA) and Annexes (e.g. Annex 2 on budget and unit cost rules) are available in the Portal reference documents. Applicants must use the Submission System templates and upload completed PDF/annex files in the assigned slots. Detailed guidance is provided in the Portal Online Manual and the Call Document; contact HADEA-FOOD-GRANTS@ec.europa.eu for non-IT questions and use the IT Helpdesk for Portal technical issues.

Application form structure (what to prepare):Part A: administrative data, participants and summarised budget (online). Part B: technical description with standard sections: project summary; 1 Relevance (background, needs analysis, specific objectives, complementarity); 2 Quality (concept/methodology, consortium, team, management, risk, cost-effectiveness); 3 Impact (expected impacts, dissemination, sustainability); 4 Workplan and work packages (WP1 project management and coordination; other WPs for activities, deliverables, milestones, timeline); 5 Other (ethics, security); 6 Declarations. Annexes: detailed budget table/calculator; CVs of core team; activity report; list of previous projects (last 4 years); other call-specific annexes. Page, font and margin limits: follow template and Portal instructions.

Practical and compliance notes

Applicants should ensure:compliance with EU policy and legislation (food safety, labelling, animal health where relevant); respect for EU values and ethics; realistic and cost-effective budgets; balanced consortium roles (beneficiaries vs associated partners vs subcontractors) and proper justification for subcontracting (normally limited and subject to best value for money rules); record keeping for at least the period specified in the Grant Agreement (typically 5 years after final payment or 3 years for grants <= €60,000); transparency for publication of awarded grants and beneficiaries unless exceptional request accepted. Do not wait until the last minute to submit.

Important:this summary reproduces and organises the material published in the Call Document and related SMP templates. Applicants must consult the Call Document, Model Grant Agreement and Portal templates for definitive legal, financial and procedural requirements and submit via the Funding & Tenders Portal Topic page. For a full description of eligibility, evaluation and grant administration rules refer to the Call Document and SMP Model Grant Agreement Call document PDF. ¹

Footnotes

1. 1Full Call Document and templates available on the Funding & Tenders Portal: ec.europa.eu. Refer to Call Document sections 1-13, Annexes, Application Form (Part A and Part B) and SMP Model Grant Agreement for complete legal and procedural details.

Opportunity Overview

This call for proposals under the Single Market Programme (SMP Food) offers action grants to EU stakeholders to implement effective food waste prevention initiatives, measure waste, and valorise side streams into new products. The total call budget is €4,000,000, with an estimated EU contribution of around €300,000 per project ¹.

Key Call Details:Call Identifier: SMP-FOOD-2026; Funding Rate: 50%; Project Duration: 18–24 months; Deadline: 15 October 2026, 17:00 CET ².

Who Should Apply

Eligible applicants include food business operators in the middle of the supply chain (manufacturers, processors, wholesalers, retailers), food banks, redistribution organisations, researchers, and NGOs. The call accepts both mono-beneficiaries and multi-beneficiary consortia; consortia must include at least one SME representative ³.

Eligibility Highlights

1. 1Legal entities (public or private) from EU Member States (including OCTs)
2. 2Registration in the Participant Register with a valid PIC before submission
3. 3No exclusion grounds (e.g., bankruptcy, fraud, tax breaches)
4. 4Demonstrated financial and operational capacity to implement the project

Objectives and Scope

The primary objective is to support stakeholders in implementing food waste prevention within their operations or across the supply chain, including consumer-targeted actions. Projects must apply the Target-Measure-Act approach: initial diagnosis, setting SMART reduction targets, implementing actions, and final evaluation ⁴.

Funded Activities Include:Developing collaborative prevention interventions, valorising side streams into new products, testing innovative packaging/labelling, and supporting food banks with digital tools, storage, and traceability systems ⁵.

Budget and Financial Terms

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals are scored on Relevance (40 points), Quality (40 points), and Impact (20 points), with an overall threshold of 70 points and individual thresholds of 28/40, 28/40, and 14/20 respectively ⁶.

Submission Requirements

Applications must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Required documents include Part A (online administrative form), Part B (technical description, max 30 pages), detailed budget table, CVs of core team, last year’s activity reports, and a list of previous food waste prevention projects ⁷.

Deliverables and Impact Sharing

Beneficiaries must submit a final report (max 20 pages) and a short case study (max 5 pages) by the project’s end. Results must be published on the EU Food Loss and Waste Prevention Hub, and beneficiaries may be invited to share best practices via webinars with the EU Platform on FLW ⁸.

Footnotes

1. 1Official call budget and grant estimates from the SMP Food 2026 call fiche EU Call Fiche.
2. 2Deadline and funding rate confirmed on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal topic page EU Portal Topic.
3. 3Consortium composition and SME requirement detailed in Section 6 of the call document EU Call Document.
4. 4Target-Measure-Act approach and project steps described in Section 2 of the call document EU Call Document.
5. 5List of funded activities for food business operators and food banks in Section 2 of the call document EU Call Document.
6. 6Award criteria and thresholds defined in Section 9 of the call document EU Call Document.
7. 7Submission requirements and mandatory annexes listed in Section 5 of the call document EU Call Document.
8. 8Deliverables and dissemination requirements in Section 10 of the call document EU Call Document.