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Reducing Food Loss and Waste
- 1. September 2013 Brian Lipinski, Associate, World Resources Report Photo: WRAP REDUCING FOODREDUCING FOOD LOSS AND WASTELOSS AND WASTE
- 2. 32% 24% of global food supply by energy content (calories) of global food supply by weight Source: WRI analysis based on FAO. 2011. Global food losses and food waste – extent, causes and prevention. Rome: UN FAO. Food loss and waste represent huge amounts of the global food supply
- 3. Source: WRI analysis based on FAO. 2011. Global food losses and food waste – extent, causes and prevention. Rome: UN FAO. During or immediately after harvesting on the farm After produce leaves the farm for handling, storage, and transport During industrial or domestic processing and/or packaging During distribution to markets, including losses at wholesale and retail markets Losses in the home or business of the consumer, including restaurants and caterers Food is lost or wasted along the entire value chain
- 4. Source: WRI analysis based on FAO. 2011. Global food losses and food waste – extent, causes and prevention. Rome: UN FAO. Food loss is more prevalent in developing countries while food waste is more prevalent in developed countries 100% = 1.5 quadrillion kcal
- 5. Source: WRI analysis based on FAO. 2011. Global food losses and food waste – extent, causes and prevention. Rome: UN FAO. North America has the highest per capita food loss and waste Kcal/capita/day
- 6. Source: WRI analysis based on FAO. 2011. Global food losses and food waste—extent, causes and prevention. Rome: UN FAO. As regions get richer, waste becomes more prevalent than loss (Percent of kcal lost and wasted) Note: Number may not sum to 100 due to rounding.
- 7. A Food Waste Protocol Photo source: Marisa McClellan.
Editor's Notes
- Thank you for having me – honor and pleasure to be here, honor to be invited by APEC to share knowledge about this topic, excited to hear from all of you about your work and make the next 2.5 days extremely productive,
- Two years ago, the FAO released a report in which they found that by weight, about 32% of the world’s food supply is lost or wasted. This was measured by weight, however, which suggests that a pound of beef is the same as a pound of apples is the same as a pound of wheat. We decided to convert their weight figure into calories and found that 24% of the world’s food supply is being lost or wasted; a smaller figure but still quite substantial.
- When we talk about food loss and waste, we tend to use them together, but they’re actually two different phenomena with different causes and effects. Food loss usually happens as a result of factors outside of the control of the person incurring the loss – it’s not intentional, but instead the result of an infrastructure or transport issue. Food loss generally happens closer to the farm and is more prevalent in developing countries. In the value chain, food loss occurs: - During production or harvest in the form of grain left behind by poor harvesting equipment, discarded fish, and fruit not harvested or discarded because they fail to meet quality standards or are uneconomical to harvest. - During handling and storage in the form of food degraded by pests, fungus, and disease. “ Food waste” refers to food that is of good quality and fit for human consumption but that does not get consumed because it is discarded―either before or after it spoils. Food waste typically, but not exclusively, occurs at the retail and consumption stages in the food value chain and is the result of negligence or a conscious decision to throw food away. In the value chain, food waste occurs: - During processing and packaging in the form of spilled milk, damaged fish, and fruit unsuitable for processing. Processed foods may be lost or wasted because of poor order forecasting and inefficient factory processes. - During distribution and marketing in the form of edible food discarded because it is non-compliant with aesthetic quality standards or is not sold before “best before” and “use-by” dates. - During consumption in the form of food purchased by consumers, restaurants, and caterers but not eaten.
- In terms of stages of the food value chain, 24 percent of global food loss and waste occurs at production, another 24 percent during handling and storage, and 35 percent at consumption. These three stages taken together account for more than 80 percent of global food loss and waste. The distribution of this food loss and waste varies significantly between developed and developing regions, however, with developed countries seeing more at consumption and developing countries seeing more during production and handling and storage.
- On a per capita basis, however, North America and Oceania stand out from other regions, with about 1,500 kcal per person per day lost or wasted from farm to fork. Europe and Industrialized Asia have similar levels of per capita loss and waste, and then less developed countries tend to have lower overall levels.
- We also have some cross-cutting recommendations from this report. The first is the development of a global food loss and waste protocol. We believe that what gets measured gets managed. A global protocol would allow for consistent forms of measurement for food loss and waste among a wide range of entities, and the data collected using such a protocol would allow countries and companies to know more precisely where to target action.
- Thank you for your time. You can download the full paper by visiting www.worldresourcesreport.org.