Much food produced in SA goes to waste

FROM 10 million to more than 12 million tons of food in South Africa is lost or goes to waste every year – with a range of adverse implications for the country and its people.

“This is a monumental unnecessary waste which cannot be allowed to continue,” said Gareth Ackerman, cochairperson of the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, “especially as about 14 million South Africans go to bed hungry every night.”

Speaking at a local media briefing hosted virtually as part of a special 24-hour Day of Climate Action yesterday, he said this was a situation which the country must deal with urgently.

The event, under the theme “Food waste in South Africa” and led by the EU delegation in Pretoria, formed part of a joint initiative of the World Press Clubs Alliance for Climate, of which the local National Press Club is a member.

The briefing heard how the EU along with the Consumer Goods Council, the departments of Trade, Industry and Competition, Environment Forestry and Fishing, and Social Development was working to cut back on losses and food waste as part of a Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN initiative to see the amounts lost reduced by half by 2030.

Dr Bernard Rey, head of cooperation of the EU delegation to South Africa, said worldwide about 30% of food production was wasted and there were about 820 million undernourished people.

He said as part of the partnership between the EU and the South African government, there was a voluntary commitment to reduce losses when crops fail and food wastage, as part of a “Farm to Fork” initiative.

Ackerman said since the signing of the agreement in September, 13 companies had already pledged their support.

Speakers painted a grim picture of millions of South Africans going to bed hungry, with 30% of households threatened by food insecurity, 30% facing hunger and 13 million children living in poverty.

They said about 31 million tons of food was either produced locally or imported, and between 30 and 50% – about 10 million to 12.6 million tons of food – was lost or wasted every year.

Apart from the food waste meaning that food which could help beat hunger often ended up in landfills or was wasted in various parts of the production chain, Professor Suzan Oelofse, principle economics and waste research at the CSIR, said there were wider ramifications. These included higher food prices and climate change. safety of everybody, and when remand detainees are then transferred to outside health-care facilities, they remain inmates and they remain remand detainees; hence we still have to look after them.

“The details around how many officials are deployed and what constraining measures we apply is something I would not want to comment on because that will breach the security measures we deploy,” Nxumalo said.

He added that Correctional Services was always in contact with the doctors of remand detainees and such doctors would indicate to the department if the constraining measures used would not be conducive to a patient’s condition and request alternative options, and the department would follow those instructions.

“It’s not about worsening the situation or any other thing, because if the doctor had a problem with the measures we’ve applied, he would have indicated to DCS that the measures were impeding their work,” Nxulalo said.