Food wastage is not only caused by the food that we throw away because of our false prestige in ordering more and eating less, but also at the various levels of its entire supply chain cycle. Just imagine food wastage starts right from production where crops are damaged not only because of natural disasters like flood, storms etc. (at least we humans have something to blame upon) but also because of crop diseases and pesticides. After production, the next step where there is significant impact on food wastage is the transportation and storage. Most of these finished food products are wasted even before reaching end customers. If we look at the graph below its shocking to see around 70% of the food is wasted from production to retailing at global level. And then we have uber cool restaurants with lavish buffets and where food is spread across to show off and make you feel great about your materialistic achievements.
Around 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted per year and this trend is only increasing. The food wastage by developed countries is almost at par with the net food production of African countries. This menace of food wastage is across the globe, developing economies wastages are mainly at the beginning of the supply chain cycle because of lack of proper infrastructure and technology whereas in developed economies the wastages are because of food standards and packaging.
Some of the actions that we can take or rather we should take from our side:
- When we cook at home make sure we cook only that much so that it can easily be consumed.
- Before ordering online check for leftovers in our fridge.
- Try to avoid buffets, most of the times we end up wasting food.
- Always store food at a temperature mentioned on its label to decrease the chance of it getting rot
- Its a good habit to keep a check and label food items that have short life.
- If you have extra food items donate it to the food banks in your area or needy people.
These simple yet effective steps can definitely help in saving food and avoid wastage. I think if we look at the overall picture of food production the problem is not with the less amount of food getting produced, I think if we all can start consuming food products judiciously we will be able to match the demand with appropriate supply.
Please be responsible, point out to people if you see them wasting food. A little proactiveness from our side can help in saving lives of people. If you guys have any suggestion on avoiding food wastage please drop in your comments and lets try to spread the awareness.