Household food waste has continued to decline in Hungary: according to the National Food Chain Safety Office’s (Nébih) 2025 survey, the amount of avoidable food waste has fallen by 37.2% since 2016. Nevertheless, nearly 200,000 tons of edible food are still thrown away every year.
According to Nébih, buying too much, preparing oversized portions and forgetting about food are the most common reasons for discarding it. The survey found that Hungarian households generate an average of 60.7 kilograms of food waste per person annually, equivalent to approximately 576,000 tonnes nationwide. Of this, 34.3%, or 20.8 kilograms per person, constitutes avoidable food waste, while the remainder is largely unavoidable waste, such as bones, eggshells and coffee grounds.
Prepared meals, fresh fruit and vegetables, and bakery products continue to account for the largest share of losses: together, these three categories represent more than three-quarters of avoidable food waste. Encouragingly, however, waste from prepared meals continued to decline, reaching 7.7 kilograms per person in 2025. Total household food waste in Hungary remains below the EU average, although further reductions will be needed by 2030: the EU’s target is to reduce food waste from households and food services by at least 30% compared with the average for 2021–2023.