MADRID, SEPTEMBER 28 (IPS) – It’s fact, not conjecture: about 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted and lost … every year, which is equivalent to one ton for each of them. a billion hungry people, many of them food producers.
The findings were reported by World BankWho’s recent research: What a Waste 2.0 also reported that the number of wasted calories “can fill the hunger gap in developing countries.”
To this, it reports a breakdown of calories wasted per day and per person – in addition to the 2,000–: 1,520 calories recommended among affluent people in North America and Oceania – of which 61% are by their consumers – and 748 calories are wasted in affluent Europe.
With a population much larger than Europe, a similar number of calories are reported wasted in industrialized Asia (746), compared with 414 in South and Southeast Asia.
Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia recorded 545 wasted calories per person and per day, and Latin America 453, according to the World Bank. report.
For its part, the United Nations, on this year’s occasion International Day to Raise Food Loss Awareness and Reduce Wasteon September 29, reports that reducing food loss and waste is essential in a world where the number of people affected by hunger has been slowly increasing since 2014, and tons of food Food is lost and/or wasted… every day.
How is the food of the hungry wasted?
Two main reasons lie behind such waste and food loss. One of them is due to inadequate transport and storage facilities in developing countries.
But the main problem is the rules imposed by the market.
Indeed, the dominant marketing ploy, the profit-making technique that involves picking a portion of crops while discarding large amounts of food, simply because they are “bad” or “not pretty” in the eyes of consumers.
In this way, millions of tons of potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, lemons, apples, pears, peaches, grapes… every day are left in the fields or thrown into the landfill, while millions of liters of milk and millions of The egg was spilled into the sea. just to reduce their availability in the supermarket, thereby increasing their price, and this way makes more money.
Another market rule is to attract consumers with “special” offers, such as “buy one, get two” or more, while advertising their products as natural, “biological”. , field grown, etc. Other foods are presented as gluten and lactose -free; no added sugar, more Omegas, healthier… and cheaper.
Plus, they set a tight “expiry date” and in this way push consumers to dump more of the food they want to buy just to take advantage of such “special” offers.
Consequence
- A significant amount is wasted during retail and at the consumption level, with about 14% of food produced being lost between harvest and retail.
- An estimated 17% of total global food production is wasted: 11% in households, 5% in food services and 2% in retail.
- Food lost and wasted accounts for 38% of the total energy used in the global food system.
Not only is the food wasted…
International Day meanwhile repeat that food loss and waste undermine the sustainability of the world’s food system.
“When food is lost or wasted, all the resources used to produce this food – including water, land, energy, labor and capital – go to waste.”
In addition, the disposal of food and waste in landfills, which leads to greenhouse gas emissions, contributes to climate change.
Food loss and waste can also negatively impact food security and food availability, and contribute to higher food costs.
Professional body around the world: Food and Agriculture Oranization (FAO), reports these events:
- Currently, 41.9% of the global population cannot afford a healthy diet. That’s more than 3 billion people.
- An additional 1 billion people around the world are at risk of not adopting a healthy diet if a shock cuts their income by a third. What if there is a disaster or an economic shock?
- Furthermore, the cost of food could rise to 845 million people if critical transport links were to be disrupted.
In it reportFAO reiterated that as the world’s population continues to grow, “the challenge is not how to grow more food; but reducing food loss and waste “in a sustainable way, is an immediate need if we are to make the most of the food produced to feed and nourish more people.
In addition, prioritizing food loss and waste is critical to the transition to sustainable food systems that promote efficient use of natural resources, minimize impacts on planet and ensure food and nutrition security.
And reducing food waste is one of the solutions with the most climate impact.
Having reported all of that, who dares to tell a billion poor people why they and their children go to bed hungry or undernourished, every day, while big business professionals dress up in extravagant clothes , sitting in luxury offices, skyrocketing wages, and eating carefully selected food?
© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
