Stop food waste

I RECENTLY attended a 150-table sumptuous, seven-course dinner at a convention centre in Kuala Lumpur. By the time the fifth course was served, there were only five of us left at our table. Imagine the amount of food left unconsumed, which I believe would have gone straight into the bins.

It was a sad sight that nobody at the event could do anything about it. At the time, I wished we could be given containers in which we could pack the excess food and distribute it to the needy. Wasted food is not an uncommon sight, and I am sure many of us have witnessed similar situations, not once but many times.

It is therefore no surprise that a survey conducted last year by the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation indicated that Malaysians throw away 16,688 tonnes of food daily – food which is enough to feed 12 million people a day. While we are not sure how these figures were derived, they do show that there is a big problem at hand and, unfortunately, we are all contributing to it, one way or another.

The Malaysia Consumers Movement (MCM) commends the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail for responding to this critical food waste situation by embarking on a nationwide food bank initiative to systematically collect surplus food from industry players and redistribute it to the deserving in a coordinated way. While non-profit organisations have been actively involved in surplus food redistribution, this is the first time that the government is getting directly involved.

We hope the ministry will be able to expand its reach by convincing more industry players, especially those who trade in prepared food, to participate by donating surplus food. Needless to say that it will be a challenge to get all industry players to participate.

While this food bank’s objective is to collect food surpluses at source and redistribute it, it would be worthwhile for the ministry to also look into consumer education programmes on minimising food waste as well as reading and understanding expiry dates labels on the food that we buy.

A 2016 survey on Consumer Perceptions of Date Labels by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic found that more than a third of respondents usually, or always, threw away food that’s past its “use by” date. The survey report further indicated that the problem with this behaviour is that labels rarely indicate the actual safety of a food product – rather, they tend to reflect estimates of when it will be at its peak quality or taste its best. This means that large volumes of safe food are being needlessly thrown away each year.

It is only recently that we have begun to understand the scale of this food waste issue. Now that we appreciate the level of waste that exists in our system, we should stop talking about the problem and collectively move towards finding solutions to address it.

It will take consumers, food retailers and the government, all making concerted efforts, to reduce food waste. Everyone has a role in securing the future of food.

It is commendable that we have numerous soup kitchens reaching out to those in need but a systematic platform and process at a national level will allow for more impactful outreach activities. A targeted approach would also allow less fortunate families to combat malnutrition.

In addition, the MCM recognises a need for awareness of food wastage and security among the public. And while this must be carried out nationwide for all segments of our society, it is especially vital to teach our children the importance of moderation. It is time we unite forces towards a more sustainable, equitable and prosperous Malaysia.