Action is needed to tackle the epidemic of food waste

VEN in our wasteful culture, it is a hard fact to swallow: nearly 20 per cent of all the food sold is lost through waste or over-eating. According to the researchers at Edinburgh University who came up with the figure, the waste is so bad that 2.1billion tonnes of crops are lost through waste and inefficiency every year. That is half of all the crops harvested around the world. It is waste on a quite staggering scale.

Tackling it will require action on a number of fronts, particularly when it comes to the over-eating which the study specifically includes in its definition of waste. The researchers say the world population consumes 10 per more food than it needs and, in Scotland, we know the consequences of that: a nationwide obesity crisis. It will only be solved when there is better advice for parents on diet and exercise, better PE classes, and government action to tax sugary and fatty foods.

The other forms of waste identified by the study will also require action in a number of areas. Scottish households throw out enough food every year to make 800 million meals, which means consumers but also producers need to change their behaviour. We all need to plan our meals better than we do, for example; we also need to remember “best by” does not mean “throw out by” and use common sense on what food is fine to eat.

As for the producers, governments will have to look again at the incentives and disincentives that lead to too much food. How can the production process be improved? France has also become the first country to ban supermarkets from throwing away unsold food, forcing them instead to donate it to charities and food banks, and the time has come to consider a similar law here.

The long-term benefits of taking action in these areas would be widespread; reducing waste is good for the environment but good for individual health too. Household food waste has slowly declined over the last 10 years, which is good news, but we are still throwing out tonnes of meat, fish and vegetables and pouring millions of gallons of milk down the sink. It is an epidemic of waste and it has to stop.