Food waste global crisis, global opportunity - steven m. finn - feb 2015

Food Waste
Global Crisis, Global Opportunity
A Link to Childhood Hunger and Obesity
Steven M. Finn
ResponsEcology, Inc.
University of Pennsylvania
www.responsecology.com

Food System Problems and Scope
• Obesity
• Hunger
• Food Waste
All serious problems of
the food system with
global, national, regional,
and local dimensions

Increasing Focus on Obesity & Food

Obesity – Troubling Statistics
• WHO reports that obesity has more than
doubled around the world since 1980, and 42
million children below 5 years of age were
overweight or obese in 2013 Source: WHO, 2014
• FRAC reports that 35% of U.S. adults and 17%
of U.S. children are obese Source: FRAC., 2014
• The CDC recently estimated annual medical
costs in the U.S. from obesity at $147 billion
Source: CDC, 2014

Obesity – Troubling Statistics
• About 30% of the world’s population is now
overweight or obese; at current rates 50% of the
world’s adult population will be overweight or
obese by 2030
• Obesity is one of the top 3 global social burdens
created by humans (just behind smoking and
armed conflict/war/terrorism)
• Huge costs – personal, social and financial (2.9%
of global GDP, or $2 Trillion)
Source: Dobbs, et al., 2014
• Question: How much do these themes sink in?

A Story from Our Schools
• Hunger, obesity, and food waste
• Lower quality food consumed, better quality
food discarded

A Story of Need
• Hunger and isolation
coexisting with
celebration and
abundance
• Question: Is this
really a meal?

The Problem of Hunger (Global)
• 805 million people (11% of the global
population) were chronically undernourished
from 2012 to 2014 Source: FAO, WFP, and IFAD 2014
• The vast majority of these individuals live in
developing countries Source: FAO, WFP, and IFAD 2014
• About 2 billion individuals face one or more
micronutrient deficiencies Source: FAO, 2014 (www.fao.org)

The Problem of Hunger (U.S.)
• Roughly 50 million Americans lived in food
insecure households in 2013 (about 1 in 6)
• Roughly one-third (nearly 16 million) were
children
• In 2013, households with children reported
food insecurity at a much higher rate than
those without children (20% to 12%)
Source: www.feedingamerica.org 2014

Wasted Food - Global Estimates
• About 1/3 of all edible parts of food
produced globally for human consumption go
to waste annually Source: Gustavsson et al., 2011
• A study by SIWI noted that food losses and
wastage could be as high as 50% from field to
fork Source: Lundqvist,2008
• 30-50% of all food produced (1.2 to 2 billion
tons) is lost before being consumed by man
Source: Fox, 2013

Wasted Food in the U.S.
• 1977 study estimated that
20% of the food produced
in the U.S. for human
consumption was lost
annually Source: USDA, 1977
• Two decades later, another
study estimated U.S. food
losses at 27% of food
available for human
consumption Source: Kantor et al., 1997
• Recent NRDC report – 40%
of our food is not eaten
Source: Gunders, 2012
• Key Point: Food Waste
and Obesity rates have
been rising together

Wasted Food in the U.S.
Most recent USDA Study:
• 31% of the available food supply at the retail
and consumer levels in 2010 was not eaten
• A total of 133 billion pounds of food (meat,
poultry, fish, vegetables, dairy, etc.)
• Value of $162 billion
Source: Buzby, Wells, & Hyman, 2014

Wasted Food – All Types
From baked goods…

Wasted Food - All Types
To Greens and Vegetables…

To Fruits…

To Meat Proteins…

Sum: We Have Related Problems
Hunger and Obesity
• Not enough food
• Not enough high
quality calories
• Excessive amount of
poor calories from
processed foods
• Lack of access to
quality food
Excessive amounts of
food loss and waste
+

A Significant Calorie Shortfall
And…
• We need to feed nine billion by 2050, yet we
are not successfully feeding between 800M
and 2B global citizens now
• We will need to increase available global
food calories by 60% over 2006 levels to
meet demand Source: Searchinger, 2013
• Reducing wasted food is part of the solution

The Opportunity in Wasted Food
• If we reduced food wastage by capturing and
redirecting excess high quality food, we could:
Reduce hunger
Improve nutrition
Reduce obesity and diet-related illness

The Opportunity in Wasted Food
• We could also:
Improve the environment
Improve community
Improve security
Save money
$

A Resource Optimization Challenge
Wasted food is the low hanging fruit…

Causes of Wasted Food
Developed World: A Culture of Abundance
• We expect vast
quantities of
beautiful, relatively
inexpensive produce
at all times in
multiple locations

The cost of 24x7 Variety

The Quest for Perfection leads to waste…

Freshness Premiums lead to waste…

And myriad other factors lead to losses/waste:
• Extreme Weather
• Pests
• Regulations
• Overly selective quality standards
• Damage from machinery
• Loss in transport and storage
• Food prep and conversion
• Supply and demand variability
• Damaged packaging
• Over-purchasing
• Confusion over sell-by dates
• Plate waste
Source: Kantor et al. 1997

The Potential in Excess Food
• If we could save ¼ of the food currently lost
or wasted annually, it would be enough to
feed the 800+ million hungry across the globe
today
Source: FAO Save Food 2013
• In the U.S., capturing and redistributing many
high-quality calories currently being wasted
could offset the challenges of food deserts

Some Recommendations for Change
We need a multi-faceted approach:
• Mindset change, valuing food
• Raising awareness
• Education – link to hunger and obesity
• Collaboration and Partnerships
• Supporting experiments, new models
• Landing on the National Agenda
• Reframe and Act

Re-thinking About Food
• Start with Mindset
Change
• We need to properly
value our food
• And the resources
that go into
producing it
• Wastage of 30-40% is
not acceptable
• Change is not an
option, it’s a necessity

Raising Awareness
• Communicating the scale of food waste
• Demonstrating the potential in excess food
(environmental, social, financial)
• Feeding the 5000 (UK); UPenn DYNM 615 class

Education About Wasted Food
• Promoting a resource-optimization approach
• Convey the long-term benefits of food recovery
• Linking excess food to hunger and obesity**

Collaboration and Partnerships
• Promoting collaboration for efficient food
recovery (infrastructure, logistics, labor, etc.)
• Knowledge-sharing
• Use of Technology

Support For New Models
• Incentives for models that capture and redirect
high-quality excess food to needy people:
- Fare and Square (Philabundance)
- Daily Table (MA)
- Rolling Harvest (PA)
- Food Recovery Network (U.S.)
- Intermarche - France (ugly fruit is good, too!)
- See “Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables”
https://vimeo.com/98441820

A National Priority
• Add the issue of food waste to the National
agenda in the U.S. (London has the right idea)
• Framework for research and measurement
• National Ad Campaign to change consumer
behavior (stay-tuned)
• Drive change through
supply chain (consumer
to retail to producer)

Reframe and Act
• Reframe the challenges of wasted food as
opportunities to be exploited
• Link wasted food, hunger, and obesity to the
nine billion by 2050 challenge – and to global
security
• Promote the win-win in food recovery
• Shift focus to utilizing existing food resources
rather than simply producing more
• Business must play a big role
• Educate, communicate, innovate. Act.

Questions?
Contact Steven M. Finn at ResponsEcology
215-208-5416
www.foodforthoughtfulaction.com
• Twitter:
@stevenmfinn
@responsecology

References
• Buzby, et al. The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest
Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States. 2014.
• CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
• Dobbs, et al. Overcoming obesity: An initial economic analysis. 2014.
• FAO. Micronutrients. 2014. http://www.fao.org/food/nutrition-sensitive-
agriculture-and-food-based-approaches/micronutrients/en/
• FAO. Save Food. Global Initiative on Food Losses and Waste Reduction.
2013.
• FAO, IFAD, and WFP. The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2014.
• Feeding America. Hunger and Poverty Fact Sheet. 2014.
www.feedingamerica.org
• Fox, et al. Global Food: Waste Not, Want Not. 2013.

References
• FRAC. http://frac.org/initiatives/hunger-and-obesity/obesity-in-th e-us/
• Gunders, How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to
Fork. 2012.
• Gustavsson et al. Global Food Losses and Food Waste – Extent, Causes,
and Prevention. 2011.
• Kantor, et al. Estimating and Addressing America’s Food Losses. 1997.
• Lundqvist et al. Saving Water: From Field to Fork – Curbing Losses and
Wastage in the Food Chain. 2008.
• Searchinger, et al. The Great Balancing Act. 2013.
• USDA. Food Waste: An Opportunity To Improve Resource Use. 1977.
• WHO. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

Food waste global crisis, global opportunity - steven m. finn - feb 2015

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