WASTED OPPORTUNITY

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 28 per cent of the planet’s agricultural area (1.4 billion hectares), is used to produce food that is lost or wasted. Consumer food waste in high-income countries is on par with Sub-Saharan Africa’s total net food production, these food losses and waste amounting to up to one-tenth of the planet’s carbon footprint. An understanding of crop physiology and food handling is needed to develop a tailored approach to reduce food loss and waste across the world. Any approach that incorporates hardware or technology solutions must ensure that market needs around quality, volumes and variation are equally part of the equation.

Research has found that efficient packaging and transportation conditions can also play a vital role in cutting food loss and waste. In Tanzania the use of hermetically sealed bags is reducing post-harvest loss from cereal production from 14 per cent to less than one per cent. In Nigeria, Africa’s second largest tomato producer, transporting tomatoes in plastic crates rather than stacked baskets has brought a reduction of 41 per cent.

Lockdown has made us more aware of what we are eating, what we are cooking and what food waste we produce. We all have a part to play in noticing how much food goes into the bin heedlessly. Now is the time to make a change, as global thinking is shifting to different logistics, packaging solutions and how to get food into the hands of the consumer. As consumers, we also have an opportunity to not only be aware of our own food waste but to put in place our own food waste plan. For some ideas around food waste initiatives, visit mindfood.com