THE PRICE OF WASTING FOOD

By Altagracia Pytel

The world wastes around a third of the food it produces while more than 820 million people suffer hunger, this according to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Napolitano/FAO, 2019).

The food waste has become a problem not only for the population but for the environment; most of the emissions of gas come from waste food. However, not many people are yet aware of how significant could be this issue.

Food waste is defined by FAO, “as to the decrease in the quantity or quality of food resulting from decisions and actions by retailers, food service providers and consumers“.

They also show as it follows now, the main ways how food can be wasted:
Fresh produce that deviates from what is considered optimal, for example in terms of shape, size and color,
is often removed from the supply chain during sorting operations.

Foods that are close to, at or beyond the “best-before” date are often discarded by retailers and consumers.

Large quantities of wholesome edible food are often unused or leftover and discarded from household
kitchens and eating establishments. (FAO, 2019).

Another fact is in low-income countries, most loss of food is due to poor storage facilities (FAO, 2019) and happens during production; while in developed countries much food is wasted at the consumption level (Gustavson, Cederberg, Sonesson, van Otterdijk, & Meybeck, 2011).

HOW DOES IT CONTRIBUTES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

The great concern is not just about the ethical aspect, but how is damaging it is to the environment. Wasted food is considered to have a great impact on the environment, particularly if it ends up in landfills (Council).

FAO says “food waste is responsible for 8 percent of global human-made greenhouse gas emissions. And nearly 30 percent of all available agricultural land in the world is used for produced but uneaten food.“ (FAO, 2011).

Each year, in the United States out of $220 billion spent on growing, transporting, and processing food, almost 70 million tons of that food that ends up going to waste, reveals a Forbes‘ report. (Forbes, 2018).

Meanwhile, in the European Union, around 88 million tonnes of food waste is produced annually with related costs at 143 billion euros, (Fusion, 2016) The saddest part from this report of the European Commission says “some 43 million people in the EU cannot afford a quality meal every second day“.

MATTER OF HABITS

But the problem no ends up just in figures, implies others areas.

Not only is wasting food indeed a personal decision, the outcomes of which, affect who lives around us; but beyond that, it is linked to our style of life.

We have grown up without questioning even where the food is coming, or we do not reflect how much effort is required to maintain the food chain system.

We are just accustomed to buy and eat as automatic process, and most of the time, we buy by the appearance; for example, if we find in the market that a potato looks twisted, for sure, we will avoid to buy it; not knowing that also, this decision plays into the dynamic of wasting food.

But more alarming, our culture is designed to make us feel that there is a necessity to go to the supermarket every day or weekend.
As explains Rachael Jackson from National Geographic: „at home our fridges are big; our casserole dishes designed for large family meals, and our plates often oversized. Not helpful when we’re trying to cut down on food waste“.

Another element Jackson refers to „groceries can add to your food waste load when is packaged in too-big sizes or bags that are hard to seal (Jackson, 2019).

If you have grown up seeing as naturally to buy large package groceries, then you will have to make a serious change of attitude.

In generally we all must be committed to making great changes to overcome the waste of food, after all, greatly affects our planet.

For instance, there should be an initiative which fosters the need to discuss this issue in schools and communities, in order to change people’s minds, and raise awareness on how massive food waste is.

For Global Challenges, Uniba,sk.



REFERENCES

Council, F. E. (n.d.). Food Waste. Retrieved on December 13, 2020 from foodethicscouncil.org: https://www.foodethicscouncil.org/issue/food-waste/
FAO. (2019). A major step forward in reducing food loss and waste is critical to achieve the SDGs, Retrieved on December 13, 2020 from http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1238015/icode/
FAO. (2011). FAO.org. Retrieved on December 13,2020 from Food wastage footprint & Climate Change: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/nr/sustainability_pathways/docs/FWF_and_climate_change.pdf
FAO, T. F. (2019, 12 13). Food Loss and Food Waste. Retrieved on December 13, 2020 from fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste/en/: http://www.fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste/en/
Forbes, Q. (2018, Jul 18). Consumer Tech. Retrieved on December 13, 2020 from What Environmental Problems Does Wasting Food Cause?: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/07/18/what-environmental-problems-does-wasting-food-cause/#231eff3c2f7a
Fusion, E. C. (2016). European Commission. Retrieved on December 13, 2020 from FOOD WASTE: https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/food_waste_en
Gustavson, J., Cederberg, C., Sonesson, U., van Otterdijk, R., & Meybeck, A. (2011, 5 16). Retrieved on December 13, 2020, from Global Food Losses and Food Waste (PDF). FAO.: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i2697e.pdf
Jackson, R. (2019, APRIL 24). National Geographic. Retrieved on December 13, 2020 from Most people waste more food than they think—here's how to fix it-ENVIROMENT: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/people-waste-more-food-than-they-think-psychology/
Napolitano, Guilio/FAO (2019, October 14). UN News. Retrieved Retrieved on December 13, 2020 from Stop the waste: UN food agencies call for action to reduce global hunger: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/10/1049181