FOOD WASTE: A MAJOR PROBLEM FACING OUR PLANET.
Hello Steemians, here is a post on food waste and its effect on our planet.
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One-quarter of the food produced globally goes unconsumed. Most of it is often wasted in landfills and rubbish bins, yet food is the one product that everyone consumes, and while a surprising number of people go hungry because they don’t have it, those that do are shockingly wasteful.
The realities of food wastage in our world today is becoming more evident than ever and several research and findings have in one way or the other revealed the scary growth in the number of food waste and its impact on our society.
According to FAO [Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations] gave a report in 2013 indicating that the food waste globally sums up to one-third of the total food produced for human consumption which is about 1.6 billion tons a year. Clearly, this issue deserves a widespread attention.
WHAT IS FOOD WASTE?
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Food waste generally is food that is lost during any of the four stages of food supply chain, which are: THE GROWERS, PROCESSORS, RETAILERS AND THE CONSUMERS. The definition of food waste varies among other things, in what food waste consist of, how is it produced, and where or what it is discarded from or generated by. Below are the different organization’s view on food waste:
1. UNITED NATIONS: The FAO, UNEP and stakeholders have agreed this definition of food waste under the UN’s Save Food Initiative. Food waste is any removal of food from the food supply chain which is or was at some point fit for human consumption or which has spoiled or expired, which is mainly caused by economic behavior, poor stock management or neglect.
2. THE EUROPEAN UNION: According o the European Union, food waste is any food substance, raw or cooked, which is discarded, or intended or required to be discarded.
3. THE UNITED STATES: The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines food waste for the United States as an uneaten food and food preparation waste from residences, and commercial establishments such as grocery stores, restaurants, produce stands, kitchens, institutional cafeterias and industrial sources like employee lunchrooms. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, Americans throws away up to 40% of food that is safe to eat.
Loss and wastage of food occurs at all stages of the food supply chain or value chain and the global food waste amounts to between one-third and one-half of all produced. Much of the world’s resources are used to produce food [40% of its land, 70% of its freshwater and 30% of its energy] and every piece of food wasted or thrown away represents wasted resources.
CAUSES OF FOOD WASTE
Causes of food wastage differs from location to location. In most developing countries, food wastage can largely be attributed to a number of reasons; poor food storage and infrastructure, illiteracy and other social/cultural factors. Some of the causes of food wastage includes:
1. Purchase and preparation of too much food:
Food is wasted most of the time because of purchasing too much or preparing too much. If one purchases or prepares too much food than what is needed, its obvious that the excess food on the plate will go to waste and the left over and partially used food will accounts for the food that goes to waste, because, the partially used food is at times put at the back of the fridge and its never reused.
2. Lack of proper planning:
This is one of the top contributors to food wastage on the consumer’s part. People buys lots of food sometimes without appropriately making plans on when and how the food will be prepared for consumption coupled with there schedules of work and appointments, they tend to change food preparation plans or fail to remember using it on time. Also, due to the lack of an appropriate planning, people find themselves having badly prepared food that just don’t taste great and it all ends up as waste.
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3. Over-preparation of food:
Most hotels, homes, restaurants and food service industry have a tendency of over-preparing/producing food. While the intention is good, especially in anticipation of high customer volume and the ability of not running out of menu, over-preparation often leads to wastage of food if all the food is unsold and if all the food prepared at home are not consumed after preparation.
4. Over ordering of food in food stores and supermarkets:
The habit of over merchandizing of food or over ordering of food items and products in retail centers, wholesale markets, and supermarkets often result in food wastage. The overlooked aspect of over-merchandizing of food is its association with increased food waste because when people buy more than needed, the excess will often end up in trash bin.
5. Consumer behavior:
Different consumers have different preferences and this will highly influences consumer’s purchasing behaviors on food items and this will make most food items to remain on the shelves till expiry.
The list is endless as to the causes of food wastage.
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EFFECTS OF FOOD WASTAGE
1. Increase in carbon footprint and climate change
The food produced and later goes to waste has been estimated to be equivalent to 3.3 billion tons of green house gas produced at landfills by foods thrown out as waste further aggravates climate and global warming. When food waste goes to landfill, it decomposes without enough access to oxygen and it creates methane, which is 23 times more deadly and dangerous than carbondioxide. Thus, food waste is a major problem affecting our planet.
2. Economic consequences:
Food waste also reacts to direct economic cost because according to FAO’s report estimates, the economic losses associated with food wastage is about $750 billion per year.
3. Wastage of the 1/3 of the World’s fertile land areas
The unconsumed food that leads to food waste accounts for appropriately 1.4billion hectares of land which constitutes to almost 1/3 of the planets agricultural land. The world is wasting 30% of its fertile land which could be used for other meaningful purposes such as environmental research.
4. Blue water footprint
The volume of water used in agricultural food production is high and if 30% of all the food produced goes to waste, it means that more than 30% of freshwater used in the production and preserving of food also goes to waste and this reveals the amount of consumed surface and ground water resources that goes to waste.
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SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO FOOD WASTE
1. Balancing food production with demand
2. Adequate food harvesting, storage, processing and distribution of foods produced
3. A reduction in food waste initiatives [individual consumers can cut back their foodprint by not necessarily placing high preference on the very best food quality.]
4. Consumers to buy and prepare food with plan. [the use of meal plan in preparing food can go a long way in ending food wastage]
5 Food recycling
As the volume of food waste in the country increases, so does the amount it takes to dispose them. Proper management of food waste will improve the overall efficiency of the country and it will also balances the distribution of resources among the citizens of the country.
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