MADRID, Sept. 28 (IPS) – These are facts, not guesses: about 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted and lost… every year, equal to one ton for every billion hungry people, many of whom produce food.
The findings are reported by the World Bank, whose recent study What a Waste 2.0 also suggests that the number of calories wasted “could fill hunger gaps in the developing world.”
In this regard, a breakdown of the number of calories wasted per day per person – out of the recommended 2,000 – is reported: 1,520 calories in rich North America and Oceania – 61% of consumers – and 748 calories wasted in rich Europe.
With a much larger population than Europe, a similar amount of calories wasted was reported in industrialized Asia (746), compared to 414 in South and Southeast Asia.
Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia have 545 wasted calories per capita and day, and Latin America 453, according to a World Bank report.
For its part, the United Nations, on the occasion of this year’s International Day for Food Loss and Waste Reduction, reported on September 29, that reducing food loss and waste is essential in a world where the number of people affected by hunger is increasing. It has been slowly increasing since 2014, tons and tons of edible food is lost and/or wasted… every day.
How is the food of the hungry wasted?
There are two main reasons why food is wasted and lost. One of them is due to insufficient transportation and storage facilities in developing countries.
But more important are the rules imposed by the markets.
In fact, the dominant marketing technique, and profit-making technique, is to pick a portion of crops with large amounts of food discarded, just because they are “ugly”, and “not nice” in the eyes of consumers.
In this way, millions of tons of potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, lemons, apples, pears, peaches, grapes … are left every day in the field or thrown into landfills, while millions of liters of milk and millions of eggs are thrown into the sea only to reduce their availability in the supermarket, and thus raise their prices, and with this way to earn more money.
Another market rule is to attract consumers with ‘special’ offers, such as ‘buy one, take two’ or more, while advertising their products as natural, ‘biological, field grown, etc.’ Other foods are offered as gluten and lactose-free. Zero added sugar, more omega, healthier… and cheaper.
Add that they set an ‘expiration date’ narrow and in this way they push consumers to throw away the extra amount of food they are tempting to buy just to take advantage of these ‘special’ offers.
Results
- Significant amounts are wasted at retail and at the consumption level, with about 14% of food produced lost between harvest and retail.
- It is estimated that 17% of all global food production is wasted: 11% in households, 5% in food service, and 2% in retail.
- Food lost and wasted accounts for 38% of the total energy use in the global food system.
Not only is food wasted…
Meanwhile, the International Day underscores that food loss and waste undermine the sustainability of the world’s food systems.
“When food is lost or wasted, all the resources that were used to produce that food — including water, land, energy, labor and capital — are wasted.”
In addition, the disposal of food waste and waste in landfills leads to greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change.
Food loss and waste can also negatively affect food security and food availability, and contribute to an increase in the cost of food.
The specialized global body: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), presents these facts:
- Currently, 41.9% of the world’s population is unable to afford a healthy diet. That’s more than 3 billion people.
- An additional 1 billion people around the world are at risk of not providing a healthy diet if the shock reduces their income by a third. What if a disaster or economic shock occurred?
- Moreover, food costs for up to 845 million people could increase if vital transportation lines were disrupted.
The FAO notes in its report that as the world’s population continues to grow, “the challenge should not be how to grow more food; but reducing food loss and waste” in a sustainable manner, is a critical need if we are to maximize the use of food produced to feed and feed more people. People.
Also, prioritizing reducing food loss and waste is critical to the transition to sustainable food systems that promote efficient use of natural resources, reduce planetary footprints and ensure food security and nutrition.
And that reducing food waste is one of the most climate-impactful solutions.
Having reported all that, who dares to tell the billion poor why they and their children go to bed hungry or undernourished every day while the great business critics dress in silk, sit in fancy offices, get paid so high, and eat chosen food? Wonderfully?
© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
from San Jose News Bulletin https://sjnewsbulletin.com/go-tell-the-hungry-that-their-food-is-thrown-in-the-garbage-global-issues/
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