Presently, we have become such a wasteful generation. When it comes to water, fashion and even food. The worst part about wasting food is that more than 820 million people have no access to sufficient food. Let us take a look at the extent of food waste in the world.

Food waste is the amount of food that is discarded or thrown out at consumer or retail level. Basically, when people throw out food they don’t want to eat or leave it to spoil.

On the other hand, food loss is the amount of food lost during the harvesting and pre-processing stages. In Africa, food is lost due to lack of proper infrastructure in the harvesting, processing, and storage stages, due to financial, managerial, or technical constraints.

About one third of food produced globally is lost or wasted every year. This equates to roughly 1.4B tones of food. In high income countries the estimated worth of their food waste is USD 680B and 310B in developing countries. In medium and high-income countries, food is wasted in later stages in contrast to developing countries where there is reduced wastage due to low purchasing power and supply.

In developed countries, more than 40% of food waste occurs at retail and consumer levels and is heavily determined by consumer behaviour. Great quantities are lost due to the cosmetic appearance of food. Contrastingly, 40% of food losses in developing countries occur at post-harvest and processing levels as mentioned above. The most wasted food type in the world is fruits and vegetables. According to the UN, about half of all fruits and vegetables produced are wasted.

Effects of food waste

Food loss and waste result in the misuse of resources. These include water, seeds, feeds, land, energy, and labour. It is estimated that half the water used to produce this food is wasted. It also leads to the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. According to FAO, 8% of greenhouse gas emissions is from food waste. Discarded food is taken to landfills where it rots and produces methane gas that is a major greenhouse gas.

What countries can do

Ironically, 690 million people around the world are undernourished while so much of the global food supply is lost. It is projected that food waste will continue to rise in coming years if nothing is done about it. The limited transparency about the extent of food loss and waste in the food chain coupled with the lack of awareness among food providers and consumers is further exacerbating the issue. Coordination between producers and processors would greatly reduce food loss and waste.

Finding a beneficial use for food that is thrown away is a useful measure to decrease the amount of loss and waste – recycling food. In addition, manufacturing industries could repurpose and recycle unmarketable crops, by products or waste into other products such as biofuels or animal feeds.

Cold chain is a great technology that can reduce food waste. It involves a series of refrigerated production, transport and distribution activities. This could work to prolong and extend the shelf life of food. However, it is not easily available in emerging economies.

Farmers should be trained on how to protect crops from pests, diseases and weeds. This could reduce loss during harvest.

Retailers should sell imperfect fruits and vegetables at discounted prices.

What you can do

• Buy what you need: avoid impulse buying or steering off your grocery list
• Use old products before opening new ones.
• Buy imperfect fruits – oddly shaped or bruised produce are often thrown away because they do not meet cosmetic standards. Old fruits and vegetables can be used in desserts, smoothies and juices.
• Store food well: put older products at the front of the fridge or store and newer ones at the back to prevent food spoilage. Garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions should never be placed in the fridge but at room temperature. Foods that produce ethylene gas should be separated from the others that do not. Ethylene gas promotes ripening in foods. Examples of foods that produce it are tomatoes, bananas, avocados, pears, and green onions.
• Understand food labeling. Understanding the difference between ‘best before’, ‘use by’ and ‘sell by’ can help prevent a lot of food waste. In some cases food may still be safe to eat past the ‘best before’ date but the ‘use by’ date indicates that it is not safe to eat. ‘Sell by’ is supposed to inform retailers when the product should be sold or removed from shelves.
• Avoid throwing away food. Take leftovers and turn it into compost. This will create nutrient rich manure for your garden and prevent organic waste from ending up in landfills.
• Support local farmers, markets, and small businesses in your community. This can help fight pollution from long distance deliveries.
• Eat the skin of fruits, vegetables and chicken. There are a lot of nutrients in the outer layer of potatoes, chicken skin, carrots, mangoes, and cucumber therefore avoid binning them.
• Practice portion control when preparing dishes and serving. Only serve the amount of food that you can finish to avoid wasted food on the plate.
• Donate food to local charities and people in need.

For many, food waste has become a major problem by buying more than we need and letting food go to waste. The importance of reducing food loss and waste is that it can increase incomes and improve access to food for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in high-risk regions. By eliminating the food loss and waste problem, we can also curb its growing carbon footprint.