Inadequate storage facilities, strict sell-by dates, bulk buying offers and fussy consumers are to blame for as much as 50 percent of the world's food ending up as waste, a new report has found.
The report, conducted by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and titled Global Food Waste Not Want Not found that:
- Between 30 percent and 50 percent or 1.2-2 billion tonnes of food produced around the world each year never reaches a human stomach;
- As much as 30 percent of UK vegetable crops are not harvested due to them failing to meet exacting standards based on their physical appearance, while up to half of the food that’s bought in Europe and the USA is thrown away by the consumer;
- About 550 billion m3 of water is wasted globally in growing crops that never reach the consumer;
- It takes 20-50 times the amount of water to produce 1 kilogram of meat than 1 kilogram of vegetables;
- The demand for water in food production could reach 10–13 trillion m3 a year by 2050. This is 2.5 to 3.5 times greater than the total human use of fresh water today and could lead to more dangerous water shortages around the world;
- There is the potential to provide 60-100 percent more food by eliminating losses and waste while at the same time freeing up land, energy and water resources.
- In light of UN predictions that the world's population could balloon by an extra three billion people by the end of the century, the Institution is calling for urgent action on managing food waste.
Dr Tim Fox, Head of Energy and Environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers said, "The amount of food wasted and lost around the world is staggering. This is food that could be used to feed the world’s growing population – as well as those in hunger today. It is also an unnecessary waste of the land, water and energy resources that were used in the production, processing and distribution of this food.
"The reasons for this situation range from poor engineering and agricultural practices, inadequate transport and storage infrastructure through to supermarkets demanding cosmetically perfect foodstuffs and encouraging consumers to overbuy through buy-one-get-one free offers."
Fox added that governments, development agencies and bodies like the UN needs to work together to change the public's mindset on waste and work with the food production industry to discourage wasteful practices. Engineers will also play a key role in meeting the pressures of a growing global population by developing more efficient ways of growing, moving and storing foods, he said.
Recommendations
The Global Food Waste Not Want Not report recommends that:
- The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) works with the international engineering community to ensure governments of developed nations put in place programs that transfer engineering knowledge, design know-how, and suitable technology to newly developing countries. This will help improve produce handling in the harvest, and immediate post-harvest stages of food production.
- Governments of rapidly developing countries incorporate waste minimisation thinking into the transport infrastructure and storage facilities currently being planned, engineered and built.
- Governments in developed nations devise and implement policy that changes consumer expectations. These should discourage retailers from wasteful practices that lead to the rejection of food on the basis of cosmetic characteristics, and losses in the home due to excessive purchasing by consumers.