Farmers Review Africa Sept/Oct 2019 Farmers Review Africa September - October 2019 dig | Page 26

FEATURE
The issue of food waste is
more important than ever
There are a number of issues at play here.
One of the most-often cited is that wealthier
societies have been guilty of creating a throw-
away consumer culture that sees more than
50 million tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables
being discarded across Europe every year, often
because the produce is thought too ugly.
Supermarkets are often blamed for enabling food
waste, with mountains of unsold food that could
be redistributed instead of being thrown away,
based on estimated ‘best before’ dates applied to
food that is often still safe to eat.
This again comes down to a consumer mindset –
if the supermarket has determined that a piece of
fruit or vegetable has passed its sell-by date, it will
more than likely end up being wasted, despite the
probability that it would still be fine to consume.
T
he world is currently wasting 1.3 billion
tonnes of the food produced for human
consumption every year, which amounts
to a third of all food produced for that purpose.
From farm to fork, the issue of food waste is
rife across all aspects of the supply chain and
all corners of the globe. There isn’t just one
solution to help reduce the impacts of food waste,
however actionable steps can be taken to lessen
the amount of food wasted.
We are in the midst of a food waste crisis, and
the world must respond now to reverse its impact
before it is too late.
The impact of consumer behaviour
on waste
One of the biggest factors in the battle against food
waste is changing consumer behaviour to adopt a
more efficient mindset and move from a ‘throw
away’ mentality. In North America and Europe,
the annual waste per consumers is between 95-
115 kg a year, while consumers in sub-Saharan
Africa, south and south-eastern Asia each throw
away only 6-11 kg a year. In terms of monetary
value, food losses and waste amounts to roughly
US$680 billion in industrialized countries and
US$310 billion in developing ones.
There are also inadequate processes for
redistributing wasted produce to food banks
and those in need. In a bold but welcome step
in 2016, France became the first country to ban
supermarkets from throwing away or destroying
unsold food, forcing them instead to donate
it to charities and food banks. Italy has since
introduced a similar law, where it’s made easier
for companies to donate unsold food, and
Australia has set targets to reduce its food waste
by 50 per cent by 2030. Denmark, South Korea
and Dubai are also taking steps to combat the
amount of food waste created.
A requirement or desire for freshness plays a
big part in driving supermarket and consumer
throwaway cultures, but the Internet of Things
(IoT) could offer a potential solution for this
problem in the form of sensor technology at any
given time based on real-time measurements of
food quality parameters.
The lack of facilities in developing countries
There has been a widespread failure to prevent
food loss and waste much earlier in the supply chain,
including on the farm and in fields after harvest.
While richer, industrialized countries are guilty of
food waste whereby they discard the produce that
reaches them, poorer developing countries have
a problem with ‘food loss’.
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