Food Waste

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One afternoon my friends and I were talking during break time. Then we got to the topic of problems around the world, and my friend asked me what are YOU concerned about in the world? I thought about it long and hard, and I am concerned about… 

The food wastage in the world this is because in the world 821 million people don’t get food and yet we have enough to feed 10 billion people? Why is this world so unfair? Don’t you feel guilty when throwing out food, or do you not? How hungry are people? According to FAO, we wasted 1.3 billion tons of food globally each year which is only 1/3 of all the food produced for human consumption. 

Food waste refers to items that are fit for human consumption but thrown away, often at supermarkets or by consumers. Food waste occurs all along the latter half of the supply chain with distributors, retailers, and restaurants as well. 

Some reason that food waste can be caused are:

· All-you-can-eat buffets and buy-one-get-one deals encourage people to buy more than they can eat.

· Disposable income means they can afford to waste the leftovers.

· Supermarkets refuse to stock produce that is odd-looking but otherwise perfectly edible.

There are many ways to stop or reduce the amounts of consumptions of food, which are:

· Don’t over-buy.

· Check expiry dates when buying any kind of food.

· Store the food you buy correctly.

· Learn to preserve.

· Don’t try to be a perfectionist or be picky about what you buy.

· Keep your fridge clutter-free.

· Save leftovers.

· Eat the skin of the fruits and vegetables you can and compost the ones you can’t.

· Eat the yolk on in your egg.

· And more (https://bit.ly/3xDFqdI).

There are many environmental impacts of food waste, for example, only five percent of food is composted in the US and as a result, the uneaten food is the single largest component of municipal solid waste. In landfills, food gradually breaks down to form methane, a greenhouse gas that’s up to 86% more powerful than carbon dioxide. According to a UK-based organization WRAP report, if food were removed from UK landfills, the greenhouse gas abatement would be equivalent to removing one-fifth of all the cars in the UK from the road.

Why does this cause so much harm you may ask, well these are some reasons:

· Food Spoilage

· Over preparing

· Date label confusion

· Overbuying

· And poor planning

These are all reasons why food gets wasted. There are more reasons but the one you are about to read is one of the main reasons food is wasted. US restaurants generate an estimated 22 to 33 billion pounds of food waste each year. Institutions — including schools, hotels, and hospitals — generate an additional 7 to 11 billion pounds per year. Approximately 4 to 10 percent of food purchased by restaurants is wasted before reaching the consumer. 

Drivers of food waste at restaurants include oversized portions, inflexibility of chain store management, and extensive menu choices. According to the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, on average, diners leave 17 percent of their meals uneaten, and 55 percent of edible leftovers are left at the restaurant. This is partly because portion sizes have increased significantly over the past 30 years, often being two to eight times larger than USDA or Federal Drug Administration (FDA) standard servings.

You might have thought that food waste was a waste of time or not a big situation but after reading this how do you feel like? Do you think that it is a big thing? If you knew about this sooner, would you have done something about it? If you do help with food waste what recommendations do you have for others? Please give your reviews in the comments below.

Thank you!

Written By: Twarita Verma