The Rotten World of Food Waste

SPOILED DIGGING INTO FOOD LOSS AND WASTE AROUND THE GLOBE | BY TODD REUBOLD What if someone came to your house and threw every third meal – breakfast, lunch or dinner – in the trash before you had a chance to take a bite? You'd probably be pretty upset. Yet every day around the world that's essentially what we're doing. We're throwing away nearly one-third of the food produced globally for human consumption. Below we take a look at where we lose or waste food as it travels from farm to fork-and offer a few ideas for getting the most out of the food we produce with increasingly scarce land and water resources. FOOD LOSS, FOOD WASTE FOOD LOSS refers to disposal of edible parts of food during the growing/catch, postharvest/slaughter and processing stages of the food supply chain. FOOD WASTE typically occurs during the distribution, sale production and more prodigal consumption, the opposite is the case. and consumption phases. In the developing world, food loss is significant and food waste is minimal. In the developed world, with both more efficient 290. 145. 145ang 105.. 8.5mm KG/YR KG/YR KG/YR KG/YR Average per capita food loss in Europe and North America Average per capita food loss in sub-Saharan Africa Average per capita food waste by consumers in Europe and North America Average per capita food waste by consumers in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia and South/Southeast Asia BY THE NUMBERS of fish and seafood lost during 15% of oilseeds and legumes lost during the growing phase in North Africa and the Middle East 15% the catch stage in East Asia 27% of cereal grains wasted during the consumption phase in North America 19% of roots and tubers lost during postharvest in South and South- 25% of fruits and vegetables lost during processing in sub- Saharan Africa east Asia of meat wasted during the con- 8% of dairy products wasted during 11% distribution in Latin America sumption stage in Europe WASTING AWAY 1,300,000,000 Tonnes of food – nearly one-third of total global production – are lost or wasted on average each year GLOBAL LOSS AND WASTE FOR FISH AND SEAFOOD Australia, Canada New Zealand, U.S. (50.5%) Europe / North Africa, South and China, Japan South Korea Sub-Saharan Latin Russia Africa Middle East Southeast Asia America (35.9%)* (42.0%) (37.7%) (34.6%) (40.2%) (33.7%) Fishing / Fisheries Postcatch / Storage Processing Distribution Consumption * % of total edible catch lost or wasted including bycatch EXPLORING SOLUTIONS In developed countries, the most effective strategies include improving communication between producers and retailers to avoid overproduction; increasing awareness of food waste's economic and environmental impacts; better labeling perishable items; and finding ways to salvage safe, edible How can we best reduce food loss and waste? That depends on the circumstances. In developing countries, the great- est opportunities lie in diversifying production; investing in infrastruc- ture, transportation, food and packaging industries; and improving tech- food that is currently thrown out. nical and managerial skills of people in charge of food handling and stor- age. It's important to note that large-scale investment in infrastructure – roads, storage facilities, etc. – alone has been shown to fail where mar- As the planet moves toward 9 billion people feeding the world while pro- tecting the environment is one of the greatest challenges we face. Reduc- ing food waste and loss is a big step in the right direction. kets and local investment are absent. SOURCES: The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations PHOTOS: © Shutterstock.com including (L-R) ra3rn, Peter Zijlstra, bogdan ionescu, nikkytok, Tijana, LockStockBob, thumb and holbox