Human Wrongs Watch
Save lives by giving food today . Photo: WFP
Here, the figures are self-explanatory: as much as 1.3 billion tons per year of food is lost or wasted throughout the supply chain, from initial agricultural production down to final household consumption, according to the UN.
Moreover, it is not just about losing or wasting food—it also implies a waste of resources used in production such as land, water, energy and inputs, increasing the greenhouse gas emissions.
“Up to one third of all food is spoiled or squandered before it is consumed by people. It is an excess in an age where almost a billion people go hungry,” adds the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
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Food losses represent a waste of resources used in production such as land, water, energy and inputs, increasing the green gas emissions in vain. Photo: FAO
But… What Is Food Loss and Food Waste?
Food loss and food waste refer to the decrease of food in subsequent stages of the food supply chain intended for human consumption. Food is lost or wasted throughout the supply chain, from initial production down to final household consumption, explains FAO.
The decrease may be accidental or intentional, it adds, but ultimately leads to less food available for all. Food that gets spilled or spoilt before it reaches its final product or retail stage is called food loss, it adds. This may be due to problems in harvesting, storage, packing, transport, infrastructure or market /price mechanisms, as well as institutional and legal frameworks.
Harvested bananas that fall off a truck, for instance, are considered food loss, according to FAO. Food that is fit for human consumption but is not consumed because it is or left to spoil or discarded by retailers or consumers is called food waste.
Key facts on food loss and waste you should know!
• Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted.
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• Food losses and waste amounts to roughly US$ 680 billion in industrialised countries and US$ 310 billion in developing countries.
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• Industrialised and developing countries dissipate roughly the same quantities of food — respectively 670 and 630 million tonnes.
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• Fruits and vegetables, plus roots and tubers have the highest wastage rates of any food.
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• Global quantitative food losses and waste per year are roughly 30% for cereals, 40-50% for root crops, fruits and vegetables, 20% for oil seeds, meat and dairy plus 35% for fish.
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• Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food (222 million tonnes) as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes).
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• The amount of food lost or wasted every year is equivalent to more than half of the world’s annual cereals crop (2.3 billion tonnes in 2009/2010).
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• Per capita waste by consumers is between 95-115 kg a year in Europe and North America, while consumers in sub-Saharan Africa, south and south-eastern Asia, each throw away only 6-11 kg a year.
This may be because of rigid or misunderstood date marking rules, improper storage, buying or cooking practices. A carton of brown-spotted bananas thrown away by a shop, for instance, is considered food waste, says the UN agency.
Where Is Food Lost and Wasted?
Significantly, the World Resources Institute (WRI) explains that food loss and waste occurs more ‘near the fork’ in developed regions and more ‘near the farm’ in developing regions.
In the case of the European Union member countries, for instance, recent estimates of European food waste levels (FUSIONS, 2016) reveal that 70 per cent of the European bloc of 27 states, food waste arises in the household, food service and retail sectors, with production and processing sectors contributing the remaining 30 per cent.
Such high rates led the EU member states to commit to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), adopted in September 2015, including a target to halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030, and reduce food losses along the food production and supply chains.
Meanwhile, in the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 per cent of the food supply.
This estimate, based on estimates from USDA’s Economic Research Service of 31 per cent food loss at the retail and consumer levels, according to the Office of the Chief Economist, United States Department of Agriculture.
This amount of waste, adds the Office of the Chief Economist in US, has far-reaching impacts on food security, resource conservation and climate change:
- Wholesome food that could have helped feed families in need is sent to landfills.
- The land, water, labor, energy and other inputs used in producing, processing, transporting, preparing, storing, and disposing of discarded food are pulled away from uses that may have been more beneficial to society – and generate impacts on the environment that may endanger the long-run health of the planet.
- Food waste, which is the single largest component going into municipal landfills, quickly generates methane, helping to make landfills the third largest source of methane in the United States.
On September 16, 2015, the first-ever national food loss and waste goal in the United States was launched, calling for a 50-percent reduction by 2030.
What to Do?
Back to the global level, the UN specialised agency reminds that hunger is still one of the most urgent development challenges, yet the world is producing more than enough food.
The FAO-led SAVE FOOD: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction is partnering with international organisations, the private sector and civil society to enable food systems to reduce food loss and waste in both the developing and the industrialised world.
Governments, research institutions, producers, distributors, retailers and consumers all have different ideas about the problem – the solutions – and the ability to change. What are they waiting for?
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*Baher Kamal, Egyptian-born, Spanish-national secular journalist. He is founder and publisher of Human Wrongs Watch. Recent articles by Baher Kamal in Human Wrongs Watch:
Desperate Need to Halt ‘World’s Largest Killer’ — Pollution
Good to Know (Perhaps) That Food Is Being ‘Nuclearised’
The Harsh Plight of 152 Million Child Labourers
Nations without Nationality – An ‘Unseen’ Stark Reality
Climate Change Summit a Step Further, Yes… But Where To?
The Roots of Exodus: Why Are People Compelled to Leave their Homes?
Pollution or How the ‘Take-Make-Dispose’ Economic Model Does Kill
What Do You Really Eat When You Order a Steak, Fish or Chicken Filet?
Not True that Hunger Doesn’t Discriminate — It Does
How to Eradicate Rural Poverty, End Urban Malnutrition – A New Approach
The World Is Running Out of Much Needed New Antibiotics
To Be an Egyptian Migrant in Rome (and by the Way Make Great Pizza)
Poor Orphan Crops… So Valuable, So Neglected
Conflicts, Climate Shocks Causing New Famines, Severe Food Crisis
Alert: Nature, on the Verge of Bankruptcy
Floods, Hurricanes, Droughts… When Climate Sets the Agenda
Europe, New Border of Africa’s ‘Great Desert’ – The Sahara
Climate-Smart Agriculture Urgently Needed in Africa
To Be a Nigerian Migrant in Italy
Forced Evictions, Rights Abuses of Maasai People in Tanzania Reported
Climate Migrants Might Reach One Billion by 2050
Yemen: African Migrants Beaten, Starved, Sexually Violated by Criminal Groups
Can the Gender Gap Be Measured in Dollars Only?
Millions of Women and Children for Sale for Sex, Slavery, Organs…
Migrants – The Increasingly Expensive Deadly Voyages
Not Just Numbers: Migrants Tell Their Stories
Climate Change-Poverty-Migration: The New, Inhuman ‘Bermuda Triangle’
Drought Pushes 1 in 3 Somalis to a Hunger Knife-Edge
Mideast: Drought to Turn People into Eternal Migrants, Prey to Extremism?
More Plastic than Fish or How Politicians Help Ocean Destruction
The Relentless March of Drought – That ‘Horseman of the Apocalypse
Re-Connect with Nature Now… Before It Is Too Late!
The ‘Water-Employment-Migration’ Explosive Nexus
Asia: 260 Million Indigenous Peoples Marginalised, Discriminated
Mideast: Growing Urbanisation Worsens Water Scarcity, Food Imports
A Grisly Tale of Children Falling Easy Prey to Ruthless Smugglers
Agony of Mother Earth (I) The Unstoppable Destruction of Forests
Agony of Mother Earth (II) World’s Forests Depleted for Fuel
Who Are the Best ‘Eaters’ and How to Use Eggplants as a Toothbrush
African Migrants Bought and Sold Openly in ‘Slave Markets’ in Libya
The Very Survival of Africa’s Indigenous Peoples ‘Seriously Threatened’
20 Million People Could ‘Starve to Death’ in Next Six Months
Indigenous Peoples – Best Allies or Worst Enemies?
Middle East, Engulfed by a ‘Perfect Storm’
Yemen, World’s Largest Humanitarian Crisis
ACP: One Billion People to Speak To Europe with One Voice
Did You Know that the Oceans Have It All?
The Unbearable Cost of Drought in Africa
‘Humanity and Social Justice, a Must for the Future of Work’
Work, What Future? Seven Big Questions Needing Urgent Response
Plastic No More… Also in Kenya
Climate Breaks All Records: Hottest Year, Lowest Ice, Highest Sea Level
New Evidence Confirms Risk That Mideast May Become Uninhabitable
The Indigenous ‘People of Wildlife’ Know How to Protect Nature
These Women Cannot Celebrate Their Day
Antarctic Ice Lowest Ever – Asia at High Risk – Africa Drying Up
UN Declares War on Ocean Plastic
Of Arabs and Muslims and the Big Ban
Every Year 700 Million People Fall Ill from Contaminated Food
A Dire Vacuum in a World in Crisis
Indigenous Peoples Lands Guard 80 Per Cent of World’s Biodiversity
World’s 40,000 MP’s Must Enjoy Their Rights – But Are They?
Want to Prevent Stroke, Diabetes, Cancer? Get Moving… Now!
Trump to Pull Out of the UN, Expel It from the US?
Inequality (III): Less Employment… and More ‘Junk’ Jobs
Inequality (II): “It Will Take 170 Years for Women to Be Paid as Men Are”
Inequality (I): Half of World’s Wealth, in the Pockets of Just Eight Men
Poor Darwin – Robots, Not Nature, Now Make the Selection
Baher Kamal
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 