Did you 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
What's the difference between food loss and
food waste?
- Waste occurs toward the back end of the food chain, at the retail and consumer level. In general, the richer the nation, the higher its per capita rate of waste.
- Loss, on the other hand, mostly occurs at the front of the food chain—during production, postharvest, and processing—and it's far less prevalent in industrialized nations than in the developing world, which tends to lack the infrastructure to deliver all of its food, in decent shape, to consumers eager to eat it
What are the reasons for food waste and food
lost?
- Food lost:
- Ineffective infrastructure to handle the chain of production of food (for example: absence of refrigeration, inability to convert food to shelf-stable foods, Bad road and rail conditions slow down the time the food freshly reach the market, lack of storage space)
- Lack of good water
- Absence of existing technology to support with the food production.
- Food Waste:
- Consumerist behaviour - Food being wasted in restaurants and house holds
- Economic / consumerism - maintaining pricing and profit for example farmers will also leave entire blocks of fruit or vegetables in orchards and fields for fear of flooding the market and depressing prices. Markets will throw away good food that was labelled as 'used by' to maintain the quality/image of the brand name.
What are the consequences of food waste?
- Humanitarian - lost opportunity to feed people that are starving
- Abuse of resources - waste of vast quantities of fuel, agricultural chemicals, water, land, and labor needed to produce food - resources that could have utilized for supportive activities.
- Environment - food waste leads to wasteful use of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides; more fuel used for transportation; and more rotting food, creating more methane – one of the most harmful greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change.
Solutions:
The national
geographic article provide sustainable solutions that are already in the
public awareness.
LIG provides encompassing/holistic solutions
within the understanding that food waste cannot be changed or solved without
entirely solving the rest of the global problems which are all interconnected
with human nature, education, money, politics and so forth.
Though, what we all
must realize is that unless we stand together as one unified voice, we won't be
able to create a world that is of worth for everyone equally. We need to come
together and holistically develop the necessary solutions that includes education,
economics, politics and so forth. Within that also, to remember that our voice
is heard through our living example. So within the context of food waste, you
are able to make small changes in your relationship to food consumption for
example.
Please investigate
more LIG proposal and become the living
voice in creating a better world for everyone.
More resources:
Encompassing article
about food waste/lost and solutions -
One-Third of Food Is
Lost or Wasted: What Can Be Done
Food Waste Facts
Just Eat It: Why Do
We Waste Food?
Food Waste: The
Epitome of Human Ignorance
USDA and EPA Join
with Private Sector, Charitable Organizations to Set Nation's First Food Waste
Reduction Goals
U.S. Food Waste
Challenge - FAQ's
Food Waste: The
Facts - By United Nations Environment Programme, Regional Office of North
America
Survey Highlights
Consumer Misunderstanding of Food Waste
http://www.thefishsite.com/fishnews/26555/survey-highlights-consumer-misunderstanding-of-food-waste/
The Shocking Cost Of
Food Waste
Almost half of the
world's food thrown away, report finds
The Key to Ending
Global Hunger Is on the Battlefield
Singaporeans
regularly waste food, survey finds
One third of all
food wasted!
