FEATURE
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
it reaches the consumer. By ensuring better cold
chain management along the entire supply chain,
perishables will last much longer and might not get
wasted as much.
It’s easy to pass the responsibility along the chain
and point the finger at someone else, but food waste
is everyone’s problem – whether you’re a producer, a
retailer or the consumer.
We cannot carry on like this if we want to ensure a
sustainable, secure food future for all.
Save where you can, get clever – this is our problem to
solve. CLA
REFERENCES
development of more sustainable
food systems.
The main reasons food is thrown
away is because it either 'wasn't used
in time', or too much was cooked,
prepared or served. The potential
therefore exists that food waste at
household level in South Africa can
be reduced.
The results from previous suggest
that post-consumer food waste in
South Africa is higher than in the rest
of sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa
is one of the high-income countries
in the region, with a larger and more
advanced economy in comparison
with the rest of sub-Saharan
Africa. Higher household incomes
are associated with a decline in
consumption of starchy food staples
and increased diversification of
COLD LINK AFRICA •
SEPTEMBER 2019
diets towards more fresh fruit and
vegetables, dairy, meat and fish.
However, the study found that starchy
foods (mealie pap, bread and rice)
are still the most wasted food types
across income groups with higher-
income groups wasting more rice and
vegetables as compared to middle-
and low-income households.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
2017 report on ‘Food Loss and
Waste: Facts and Futures, Taking
steps towards a more sustainable
food future’ also paints a dire picture
of food waste in South Africa. It
estimates food waste at 210kg per
person per annum. It found that 50%
happens at agricultural level, 25%
at processing and packaging, 20%
at distribution and retail, and 5% at
consumer level.
1. ‘Household food waste disposal in South Africa: A case
study of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni’;
http://www.scielo.org.za
2. ‘Food Loss and Waste: Facts and Futures’;
http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/WWF
3. ‘Food wastage footprint – impacts on natural
resources’; http://www.fao.org/3/i3347e/i3347e.pdf
The energy wasted every year in
South Africa for producing food
that is never consumed is estimated
as sufficient to power the City of
Johannesburg for roughly 16 weeks.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
As mentioned, consumers account
only for 5% of food wastage. The real
problem lies much lower down in
the cold chain. If any link is broken;
if the temperature of the perishables
fluctuates even a little bit, consumers
may not have much of a choice but
to throw away food they thought
would last a week after a day.
Sure, there are things consumers
can do to avoid wasting – just
look at the tips above. But the
real solution is making sure the
food lasts as long as possible once
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