Is Food Waste a Current Issue?

11/2/20232 min read

selective focus photography of dried fruits on field
selective focus photography of dried fruits on field

Approximately one third of food produced is lost or wasted (Ng'endo and Connor 2022).

Food may be wasted at any stage of the supply chain by reason of inter alia over-production, hoarding, the discarding of unsold produce, and in the form of leftovers from homes and food and beverage establishments (Evans et al 2013).

Food waste in less industrialized countries is a socio-technological phenomenon, while in the First World, this is a matter of consumer behaviour and cooperation between supply chain actors (Seberini 2020; Smith 2012). In the latter, food waste tends to occur upstream in the supply chain, often just after harvest (Ng'endo and Connor 2022), while in the former wastage happens at the retail and consumption stages (Aschemann-Witzel et al 2015). The link between social inequality and food waste can be observed in the example of smallholder farms, which tend to lack access to international markets and food supply chains, and also experience greater post-harvest losses due to storage limitations (Ng'endo and Connor 2022) and “inappropriate infrastructure and logistics” (Seberini 2020:2). In this case, it is arguable that reducing food loss could strengthen food security and and optimise the resources used in the production process (Santeramo 2021).

Indeed, inefficient use of water, land, and energy, and the resulting reduction in food production capacity, could be exacerbated by the pressures of ongoing population growth (Smith 2012). Food waste or loss, particularly upstream, may contribute to poverty and malnutrition and produce (and reproduce) social inequalities.

References:

  • Aschemann-Witzel, J., de Hooge, I., Amani, P. et al (2015). ‘Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action’. Sustainability 2015, 7, 6457-6477; doi:10.3390/su7066457

  • Evans, D., Campbell, H., and Murcott, A. (2013). ‘A brief pre-history of food waste and the social sciences’. The Sociological Review, 60:S2, pp. 5–26 (2013), DOI: 10.1111/1467-954X.12035

  • Ng’endo, M. and Connor, M. (2022). ‘One Size Does Not Fit All - Addressing the Complexity of Food System Sustainability’. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6:816936. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2022.816936

  • Santeramo, F.G. (2021). ‘Exploring the link among food loss, waste and food security: what the research should focus on?’ Agric & Food Secur (2021) 10:26 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-021-00302-z

  • Seberini, A. (2020). ‘Economic, social and environmental world impacts of food waste on society and Zero waste as a global approach to their elimination’. SHS Web of Conferences 74, 03010 (2020). Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207403010

  • Smith, B.S. (2012) ‘Food Waste and Global Population Dynamics’. American Meat Association, 65th 2 Annual Reciprocal Meat Conference.