World Food Forum Masterclass on Food Loss and Waste
Virtual Event, 09/04/2025
On Wednesday, 9 April 2025, the World Food Forum (WFF) Agrifood Leadership Education Programme (ALEP) in collaboration with FAO Food and Nutrition Division (ESN), hosted the masterclass "Food Loss and Waste Reduction: The Basics".
The session provided basic information on food loss and food waste, their causes, impacts and examples of successful actions to address these issues sustainably. Participants were invited to take action and engage in initiatives to reduce food loss and waste (FLW).
FLW is a global challenge with profound social, environmental, and economic impacts that undermine the sustainability of our agrifood systems. Food losses predominate at early stages of the food supply chain - after harvest and prior to retail, while food waste predominates in households and in the food services industry. When food is lost and wasted, vast amounts of resources - energy, labour, land, water, and finances - needed to produce, store, process, transport and distribute food, go to waste. Disposal of food loss and waste in landfills leads to the production of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming. FLW can also negatively impact food security and contribute to increasing the cost of food.
Our agrifood systems cannot be resilient if they are not sustainable. Concerted efforts are therefore needed to reduce food loss and food waste toward enhancing sustainability and resilience.
You can watch the masterclass here.
Masterclass objectives
- Raise awareness on food loss and food waste, their occurrence, causes and impacts, as well as simple solutions that can be applied to stem the problem.
- Provide an open forum for informed discussion among participants and expert panelists/facilitators.
- Provide an introduction of the FAO Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste and the Community of Practice.
- Encourage youth to engage in FLW reduction activities and to participate in the observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW).