August 19, 2022 articles
The Food Crisis: Resolving the problem of food waste and food loss
Ensuring that our food security needs are sufficiently met is one of the greatest challenges that we face as a society today. The second goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is to end world hunger and to meet the worlds food security needs by 2030. The importance of safeguarding global food security is no small matter, and while many who live in the more developed parts of the world may consider this to be a distant and far off issue and a problem confined to the less fortunate members of society, if proper measures are not taken, we may all face a serious food security crisis within the next two to three decades.
At the onset, it is important to draw a distinction between the two general types of food security. Moderate food insecurity refers to the inability to access of healthy and nutritious meals and is often associated with poor dietary quality and health related issues. Severe food insecurity on the other hand is associated with a lack of access to enough food. Generally speaking populations in the more developed parts of the world experience moderate food insecurity while those in the underdeveloped ones experiences severe food security. The chart below provides a picture of the level of food insecurity experienced by populations around the world as per 2021.
The causes of food insecurity are indeed varied. Poor public policy and administrative practices, poverty, food shortages related to climate disturbances, and economic instability are all factors that have contributed to food insecurity in the course of our planets history. In more recent times, global crisis’ in the form of the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine brough food security issues to the forefront again, as both incidents created massive disruptions in the worlds food systems in areas such as harvesting and transportation.
However, one major cause of food security that perhaps does not receive as much attention as it should is in that food waste. Every year, roughly 1.3 billion tons of food that is suitable for human consumption goes to waste, which constitutes about one third of all food that is produced. Allesandro Demaio, the Chief Executive Officer of a Norwegian NGO by the name of EAT engaged in the battle against world hunger, stated in an interview with the Inter Press Service, that the amount of global food wasted is enough food to feed the world’s hungry four times over!
There are various reasons for why food waste is a major concern. The first, and most pressing, is the issue of hunger and malnourishment in the world. According to the FAO, in 2020, between 720 and 811 million people faced hunger and the Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU) marker in that year climbed to 9.9%, up from 8.4% the previous year, indicating the proportion of undernourished people around the world.
The other issue arising from food waste and food loss lies in that of the carbon emissions that are associated with it. Approximately 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions were attributed to food waste sources in 2020. These emissions are substantial and worrying because they can cause disruptive weather patterns which lead to crop failures, in turn affecting long term food security.
A further issue stemming from food waste lies in that of the waste of energy and resources that are put into the food production process and supply systems. The entire chain of the food production system requires inputs of energy and resources to function. Everything from financial expenditures to fossil fuels, to the use water used in farming all constitutes elements that are effectively nullified in utility when food is wasted, which is simply unsustainable in the long run.
The sheer scale of food that is wasted is astounding, and as present-day issues continue to compound and put long term food security at risk, finding solutions to the issue of global food wastage is more pressing than ever. Just what exactly is meant by the term food waste though and what are some of the challenges involved in managing this issue as effectively as possible?
While the term food waste is often used when discussing this issue, its important to draw a distinction between food waste and food loss. Food loss refers to any edible food that goes uneaten at any stage of the food system for production to consumption. This is the wider overarching category when it comes to food that is essentially not consumed. It includes crops left in the field, food that spoils during transportation and all food items that don’t make it the store. Food waste on the other hand forms a part of the category of food loss and is defined by the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as “food that is discarded by retailers due to color or appearance and plate waste by consumers.”
Food loss can occur at multiple points within a food system, which essentially refers to the network or people, interactions and process which are involved in feeding worlds people. Broadly speaking, a food system involves the planting of crops, harvesting, transportation, processing, distribution, retail, consumption and waste management.
Food loss and food waste can occur at any point within a food system. In the United States, 20 billion pounds of produce is lost on farms every year. One of the reasons for this is due to farmers planting more crops than is being demanded by the market as a means of hedging against damage from pests, weather and disease. The excess crops are then discarded or “dumped” when there is insufficient demand to meet the supply. During the Covid pandemic, for instance, large quantities of crops were discarded due to the wide scale closure of restaurants and F&B outlets. Labour shortages, such as those that were experienced during the pandemic, can also cause the loss of potentially harvestable crops.
There are also losses that occur during the manufacturing and processing stages of the food system. During processing, edible portions of foods are often trimmed, such as skins, fats, crusts and peels. Some of these may be recovered and used for alternative purposes such as animal feed, however a large amount often goes to waste, constituting about two million pounds worth of food losses in the United States. Issues such as overproduction, product damage, and technical malfunctions are some of the reasons that losses occur at this stage.
About 22 to 33 percent of food waste is generated by restaurants in the US each year, and about 4 to 10 precent of food purchased by restaurants is wasted before reaching the consumer. Oversized portions, inflexibility of chain store management and extensive menu choices are all factors that contribute to food waste here.
The largest contributor to food waste is in the U.S is households, contributing to a massive 76 billion pounds of food lost each year. A large reason for the food waste that occurs here is due to food not being used before expiry, usually as a result of over purchasing. Another factor is that many Americans tend to discard their food before it reaches its actual expiry date. This occurs due to consumer misunderstanding the meaning of the “use-by” and “sell-by” date labels attached to food products, which are recommendations by the manufacturer and often do not strictly indicate when food products will in fact go bad.
Here in Malaysia, food waste is a serious issue as well, and has received some attention in the media in recent years. A recent article in The Malaysian Reserve mentions how up to17,000 tonnes of food is wasted in the country on daily basis, 24% of which is still edible and would be sufficient to feed 2.9 million people 3 meals a day.
Malaysia ranks as 41st out of 113 on the Global Food Security Index, and the prevalence of undernourishment in the country is at 2.5%. Malourishment is also a serious issue as a significant proportion of its youth suffer from both stunting (20.9%) and obesity (15.3%).
The data surrounding instances of food waste in Malaysia remains limited, however a significant portion of the waste that occurs has been shown to occur in households. Generally though, food wastage in the country has been shown to be connected with the increase in the purchasing of western food products, which are more fragile and have a shorter shelf life as compared with Asian and local food. The purchasing of internationally sourced products, particularly those that are animal based, has also been shown to be a contributing factor. Increased urbanization, leading to Malaysians consuming ready-to-eat foods is another major factor.
One major element that contributes household food wastage in Malaysia is the lack of careful planning when it comes to buying food items from the grocery store. This is especially so with regards to the purchasing of fruits and vegetables, which tend to be purchased in large quantities and then left to decay at the back of refrigerator units when they are not used.
There are various solutions that exist with regards to dealing with the issue of food waste. These are largely centered around the idea the surplus foods which are not used need to be put to more efficient use to minimise loss and wastage.
One of the most effective solutions available for managing the issue of food waste comes in the form of food banks and food donation programmes, in which organisations collect excess foods from their various points of the food system and deliver them to those most need in need.
In Malaysia, such programmes have taken on various forms. The Lost Food Project (TLFP), for instance, is an initiative that works by rescuing edible foods from landfills and channeling them to the needy. As of 2016, TLFP has managed to salvage at least 2 million kilograms of food amounting to the equivalent of 7,000 meals. Another Malaysian outfit known as What a Waste collects excess cooked foods and ready-to-eat meals from events, households and F&B outlets and distributes them to the needy. The organisation also gathers surplus raw produce from wholesalers and manufacturers and as of 2021, had successfully saved 1.256 million kg of food.
Aside from food donations, another highly effective means of treating food waste is through composting. Here, excess food is essentially put into composting bins and allowed to decompose, producing a high-quality organic material which can be used to enrich soil. The Malaysian organisation MAEKO has an innovative composting machine which produces organic fertilizer within 24 hours of receiving inputs.
Another solution to managing the issue of food waste is through the implementation of anaerobic digestion systems. Anaerobic digestion is a process through which bacteria break down organic matter to produce biogas and digestate. The biogas produced from this process can be used to as fuel to generate heat and electricity while the digestate can be used as fertilizer as well as for the production of organic based products. The introduction of such systems provide an alternative to shipping food off the landfill and can be an effective means of treating food waste considered unsuitable for human consumption.
Food waste has also been used a form of animal feed in countries like South Korea and Taiwan, albeit only where the waste has been cleared as appropriate for consumption by livestock. Certain components such as bone meal and eggshells have shown to be good sources of calcium and phosphorous and are deemed appropriate for usage.
Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles to providing effective solutions to the issue of food waste lies in the lack of clear data that indicates where it occurs within global food systems and to what extent. As such, capturing the relevant data through both conventional means and using IoT sensor technologies, as well as making use of analytics tools and data management systems that provide regular updates on food waste would be highly beneficial in the effort towards reducing instances of food waste around the world.
National policies that emphasise food waste awareness and which galvanise local industries to cooperate in sharing data and creating food waste solutions would also go a long way towards resolving this challenge.
Managing food waste is a vital concern within our globalised society for various reasons. The interconnected food systems that produce and supply the worlds populations with precious food supplies need to be as efficient and sustainable as possible to ensure that the food security needs of all are met, especially so for those suffering from the most severe forms of food insecurity. Ending world hunger and malnourishment as well as ensuring that environmental conditions do not adversely affect the integrity of agricultural systems are vital concerns that require swift attention in the here and now.
As solutions continue to be developed to manage this issue, perhaps one of the most significant changes that we can make as a society comes in the form of our personal habits when it comes to the treatment of food products in the household. A better understanding of the importance of managing our food waste more effectively is vital, and taking steps to ensure that we do not purchase and consume excessively are little personal changes that we can make as individuals to ensure that future generations will be able to access abundant, clean and healthy food sources in the years to come.