The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has stressed the importance of monitoring food waste, to speed efforts of eliminating hunger on a global scale.
At the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF) in Copenhagen, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva discussed plans for a new global standard for measuring food loss and waste.
“FAO estimates that each year, one third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted: around 1.3 billion tons.
“This costs around US$750 billion annually, and iIf we reduce food loss and waste to zero it would give us additional food to feed two billion people,” Mr Graziano da Silva said.
The food waste in question mostly takes place in the marketing and consumption stage in developed countries, yet in developing countries the food waste occurs during post-production, harvesting, transportation and storage.
“Per capita consumer waste is around 100 kilograms in Europe and North America per year. In Africa, it is less than 10 kilograms a year per person,” he said.
“We already know a lot about how to cut food losses.
“But we need to invest more in a number of areas, especially in infrastructure such as roads and cold chains, but also improving market information.
“We also need to close the gap between the knowledge we have and what farmers and other actors in the food chain are actually doing.
“When we do that, we see good results,” he said.
“And with regards to food waste, it is also important to take into consideration that different cultures have different culinary traditions,” Mr Graziano da Silva added.
Mr Graziano da Silva urged participants to maintain their commitment to working with producers, consumers, retailers, governments and international organisations to reduce food loss and waste, keeping in mind cultural differences which would influence choices.
FAO has already launched the ‘SAVE FOOD’ initiative to reduce food loss in the agricultural process.
Additionally, in collaboration with UNEP and WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Program) it has launched another campaign ‘Think.Eat.Save’ to target and change wasteful practices, especially at the retail and consumer end of the food-supply chain.
