Tuesday 11 June 2013

Reduce food waste



According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted. At the same time, 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily due to hunger. Reduction of food wastage will not onlyhelp save money but also go a long way in saving lives.
During each stage of the food supply chain (starting from production, processing, distribution, consumption to disposal), limited natural resources are used up and greenhouse gases are emitted, which contributes to climate change.

Loss and wastage of food are present in all stages of the food supply chain due to unfavourable weather conditions, pest infestations, and usage of machinery in harvesting, spoilage due to inappropriate transport, handling and storage, packaging damage, stock management inefficiencies, marketing strategies, over-purchasing, poor preparation, or incorrect serving sizes, etc.

Reduction of food waste is favourable not only for consumers and businesses alike, but for our planet as a whole too. 
Pre-consumer waste can be avoided by introducing efficient agricultural practices, investment in infrastructure and transportation, good hygienic practices by all food chain operators, better planning by businesses to reduce wastage, etc.

We, as consumers, can reduce food waste output at points-of-purchase and by taking steps to correct our wasteful habits.
For the next few days, we will be giving tips on reducing food waste, with the World Environment Day theme in mind, THINK.EAT.SAVE.


Pix: Elena Ray / Istock

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