Pope Francis referred to what he termed a “culture of waste” in a statement on World Environment Day. “Consumerism has caused us to get used to the daily excess and waste of food, which we are no longer capable of seeing for its true worth”, he said, inviting all to reflect on the problem of the loss and waste of food.
Much food is lost in the developing world due to inadequate or ineffective storage. Now an invention by a Nigerian teacher can help reduce this. By placing a pot within a sandy layer of another pot, the Zeer is able to cool contents to just 10 degrees, potentially increasing food-life ten-fold.
India loses up to 13 percent of GDP due to food losses in the grains sector, says the country’s storage authority WDRA in a statement to Inter Press. Main culprits are lack of adequate storage facilities and a state purchasing guarantee that increases state-held grains. More on storage and response.
A US company has developed a tracking system for food waste. Manual tracking of food waste is difficult, and the new system takes care of container weight, type and value. When UCLA used the system, they discovered that diners disliked a particular sausage only after it headed their new waste ranking.
Food banking in Italy is hampered by legislation that makes it cumbersome to donate food, reports AFP. It is estimated that six million tonnes of food are thrown away annually. The "Pasto Buono" ("Good Meal") project help caterers and soup kitchens meet, so that less food is wasted. Video here.
Koran authorities are rolling out a new weight-based bin system in an effort to reduce food waste and processing costs. Households will be charged by the weight of their trash. It is hoped that waste will be reduced by 20 percent, but there are fears that illegal dumping will increase.
UK newspaper the Telegraph reports that leading retailers do not believe there is a strong link between food waste and two-for-one promotions. Advice on improved storage, portion sizes and using leftovers is helping reducing domestic food waste said the British Retail Consortium.
IPS News writes how Polish youths have been able to collect all their food from a supermarket waste bin. The company blocked access to the container as they became aware of the practice. Polish food banks say the government is not helping by demanding VAT from food donations by retailers.
The ADM Institute of Illinois University shares stories on food loss during transport in Sri Lanka, on the fact that food waste in Oman is 35 percent, and on the perils of Maize speculation in Uganda. It also reports on how late harvesting lead to grains losses in Bangladesh, on trials on three-layered grain bags to reduce losses in Rwanda and on improved food storage with metal silos in Central Africa, Kenya, India and Brazil.
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State of Food and Agriculture
SOFA is the flagship publication of FAO that aims to bring science-based assessments of food and agriculture to a wider audience. Reducing food and nutrient losses and waste throughout food systems is mentioned as important contributions to better nutrition and productive resources.
Agricultural Outlook 2013-2022
The 2013 OECD and FAO Outlook projects a growth in Agricultural production by 1.5 percent per year, down from 2.1 percent in the last decade. In this context, the report states, measures to reduce food loss and waste will be important in meeting rising demand and increasing productivity.
HLP Report on Post-2015 Development Agenda
The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the development agenda beyond 2015 has published its report. The panel highlights reducing post harvest loss and food waste as a component of a proposed target 5, to Ensure Food Security and Good Nutrition.
Climate Smart Agriculture Sourcebook
The FAO CSA sourcebook features a chapter on food losses and waste, and analyses causes and solutions in every step of the food value chain. The 570-page book provides an approach for making agriculture better adapted for a changing climate.
Reducing Food Loss and Waste
World Resources International (WRI) and UNEP released a working paper calculating the equivalent of food loss and waste on calories, and suggest a number of tangible solutions to address the problem. FAO and SAVE FOOD contributed to the report.
FOOD LOSS
Sealed strawberries last longer
Italian food packaging company ILIP and the University of Bologna, both partners in SAVE FOOD, have studied heat-sealing as opposed to lids on plastic trays used to store strawberries. Weight loss was 38 percent less in the sealed units, reducing dehydration.
Grapes need ventilation
Two separate studies by food packaging companies INFIA and ILIP confirm the importance of ventilation holes in packaging for grapes. The INFIA study found that ventilation holes cooled grapes 25 percent faster, saving both energy and increasing shelf life. The ILIP study also looked at secondary packaging for the grape punnets, and found these too had a strong impact on cooling times.
Footprint of food loss in Nigeria
The German agency for international cooperation GIZ, a SAVE FOOD partner, has released a study titled “Ecological Footprint of Cassava and Maize Post-Harvest-Losses in Nigeria”. The study finds food losses for both sectors contribute to 2.3 million tonnes of CO2, and waste 2.8 billion litres of water.
Farm losses in Germany 3-11 percent
The German Ministry of Agriculture (BMELV) has released a study on post harvest losses in the wheat, potato, carrot and dessert apple value-chains. Dessert apples were found to have 11 percent loss, and wheat 3.3 percent loss. Pests, disease and improper storage were listed as main reasons.
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FOOD WASTE
Size does matter
But not the way you may think. Cornell University has found that people are more likely to finish dishes labelled ‘regular size’ at restaurants. When faced with a dish labelled ‘double-size’, they leave 10 times as much food on the plate – regardless of actual size of the meal. Plate colour and size yield similar results.
Food waste is a symptom
Professor of Food Policy at City University London, Mr Tim Lang, argues that food loss and waste is an inherent feature of our food system, and we need to change how it works. Mr Lang points out the absurdity of growing cereals for animal production while importing cereals for food.
Food waste in the catering sector
UK NGO WRAP released their study “Understanding out of home consumer food waste”, looking at the reasons for consumer food waste in public dining facilities. It found that the catering industry could save an estimated £ 722 million pounds through reducing portion sizes alone.
Food waste in the catering sector II
The Irish National Waste Prevention Programme (NWPP) published a guide to minimising food waste in the catering sector in 2010, called Less Food Waste More Profit. It is still relevant and features prevention strategies for purchasing, storage, the kitchen, serving and post cooking.
Creating a Smaller Menu to reduce waste
While there is little disagreement on the need to reduce food waste, the how is often missing. The American activists behind Foodtank.org are featuring a blog entry on just that, written by Greg Christian. He is a chef and author offering to help make foodservices more sustainable.
Food waste is a food system challenge
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a non-partisan US think-tank, listed our “ability to reduce food waste” as one of three global food system challenges of Feeding an Urban World. Natural resources and capacity of infrastructure were the two other challenges.
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Feeding the 5000: Sydney, 29 July. Free lunch made entirely up of food that would have otherwise gone to waste. Hosts Feeding the 5000 and Dariacordar are SAVE FOOD partners.
17 July 2013, 15:00 Europe Summer Time, Online
Losses in value chains: Maize and cassava in Nigeria. The German agency for international development (GIZ) is hosting a virtual briefing from their recent study in Nigeria. GIZ is a partner in SAVE FOOD.
27-28 August 2013 Bangkok, Thailand
FAO High-Level Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on Food Losses and Food Waste in Asia and the Pacific Region hosted by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAORAP). The Consultation will officially launch the SAVE FOOD initiative in the Asia Pacific region in collaboration with partners.
9-20 September 2013, Wageningen, Netherlands
Course: Lost harvest and wasted food: Managing the crop supply chain for increased food security.
23-25 September 2013, Hangzhou, China
2nd World Congress of Food Science and Technology. Managing Postharvest Food Losses in Developing Countries. SAVE FOOD Partner Wilson Associates moderates a session on “Technologies targeted toward reducing postharvest losses in developing countries.” SAVE FOOD is represented by FAO Senior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer Shashi Sareen.
25-27 September, Nantes, France
EcoCity World Summit on Sustainable Cities pursues a holistic and integrated approach to sustainable development. The summit sets out 4 priority challenges: financing, governing, thinking and shaping. FAO co-organizes 2 sessions.
This newsletter presents ongoing activities in the area of food losses and waste. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, nor of any individual partner in SAVE FOOD.
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FILM
FAO founded the Global Initiative on Food Losses and Food Waste Reduction – SAVE FOOD - with private-sector partner Messe Düsseldorf. See how the two organisations came together to address one of the world’s biggest challenges, on occasion of signing the MoU between the two organisations.
It is estimated that each person in Germany throws away 82 kilos of food each year. A study by the University of Stuttgart has found that 11 million tons of this food waste is still edible. Deutsche Welle looked at the causes and options, and talked to SAVE FOOD Team Leader Robert van Otterdijk.
IPS TV featured a roundtable with SAVE FOOD Team Leader Robert van Otterdijk representatives of the Last Minute Market, and the Slow Food movement the Goldman 2013 winner and the Permanent representative
of Switzerland to FAO. The panel discussed food loss and waste.
UNEP prepared a number of films on this year’s World Environment Day theme Think.Eat.Save. The Waste is a graphic illustration of the challenge. It was developed with WWF and supported by FAO and SIWI; Conveyor and Breakthrough show a humorous approach to food waste.
UK-based non-profit Love Food Haste Waste has released a video together with a number of consumer tips on how to reduce food waste while dining out. Reducing portion size, switching main meal for starters, chips for salad – or vice versa – are just some of the tips to reduce the spoil.
Food is thrown away throughout the agro-chain. It is estimated that food waste in Holland amounts to 2.4 billion Euros. This film looks at the movement of people who collect food from dumpsters and redistribute and consume it before it goes to waste.
PRINT
Our Planet magazine featured the joint UNEP FAO campaign Think.Eat.Save in its June edition. FAO’s contribution “Food losses mean hunger” was signed by FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva. Other contributors are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and SAVE FOOD partner Messe Düsseldorf.
The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition targets food loss and waste in its second issue. Contributors include FAO Assistant Director-General Ren Wang, European Commission Director of Sustainable Resources, Soledad Blanco
and Tristram Stuart of Feeding the 5000, among others.
Founder of the Danish Stop Wasting Food movement and SAVE FOOD partner Selina Juul has written a blog on Think.Eat.Save about last year’s achievements on food waste reduction. Every second Dane reduced their waste and families with children being particularly active. She lists actions here.
UN Resident Coordinator in Rwanda, Lamin M. Manneh addressed food loss and waste in his op-ed for the Rwandan daily New Times. He notes that the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) has estimated food loss to be 22 percent, and describes ongoing efforts to reduce this proportion.
Tetrapak has written an opinion piece in the Environmental Leader, a trade journal focusing on sustainability. Director of Environmental Affairs, Elisabeth Comere, says there is a demand for minimised packaging, but this should be balanced with its huge role in food waste reduction.
A US chapter of Second Harvest Food Bank benefits from a food recovery program that links it with local grocers to get fresh fruits and vegetables. "There’s more than enough food to go around, we just need to capture the food in time”, says Kathy Jackson of Second Harvest.
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SAVE FOOD presented at the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development (APPG) seminar series on post harvest loss and food waste entitled “Crisis in the global food system?”. FAO Senior Agro-Industries Officer Divine Njie presented on behalf of SAVE FOOD.
SAVE FOOD and FAO Kenya hosted a stakeholder validation workshop for the studies to a food loss reduction plan for banana, maize, dairy and fish. 40 experts and stakeholders across the four value chains discussed the technical, economic, social, environmental, legal and food security implications and endorsed the final conclusions of the reports.
The Local Governments Network (ICLEI) held a forum on urban food systems at the Resilient Cities Congress in Bonn. Food waste can be dramatically reduced depending on how urban food systems are organised, a point highlighted with having a reception with crooked “reject” vegetables. Agricultural Officer Makiko Taguchi presented on behalf of Food for the Cities and SAVE FOOD. (Report).
The 4th OECD Food Chain Analysis Network Meeting was held in Paris in June. The Network is a platform for dialogue, analytical work and policy experiences, including food loss and waste. SAVE FOOD’s Camelia Bucatariu and Elhadi Yahia of FAO Near East Office launched the session on sustainability of the food value chain.
The 7th Sustainability in Packaging Conference was organized by Smithers Pira and Packaging Digest to find sustainable packaging solutions in the supply chain. FAO’s Joseph Mpagalile addressed participants on the SAVE FOOD initiative, food waste, food packaging and the link to development.
Senior Agro-Industries Officer Divine Njie supported a 3-day capacity building workshop on post-harvest loss reduction, hosted by COMESA Secretariat. It aimed at helping senior public and private sector managers to design and implement national projects on post-harvest loss reduction.
Representatives from across Europe’s food supply chain organized in the trade body FoodDrinkEurope, announced the launch of a joint effort to tackle food loss and waste via the publication of their Joint Declaration entitled, ‘Every Crumb Counts’.
The UN Regional Information Centre for Western-Europe (UNRIC) launched a poster competition on food waste with the Nordic Council of Ministers and other partners. Creative people are called upon to create an ad to raise awareness on the need to stop food waste before August 11.
IIED published a review of grassroots initiatives contributing to food waste reduction. A sustainable restaurant in Peru, a supermarket for misshapen fruit and vegetables in the UK, and a clean your plate campaign in China are some of the initiatives mentioned.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), launched the U.S. Food Waste Challenge, inviting producer groups, processors, manufacturers, retailers, communities, and other government agencies to Reduce food loss and waste.
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