Overview and brief summary on the challenges of reducing food loss and food waste.

1.
Shantalla
Inc.
©
2014
Shocker ! Food Loss & Waste
By: John G. Keogh, President & Principal Advisor, Shantalla Inc.
With the world population headed fast towards 9.6 billion by 2050, the pressing challenge
of achieving food security is attracting huge scientific interest. But the key factor in
achieving food security may not hinge entirely on the adoption of new technologies, and
may be much more boring – simply cut food loss and food waste.
The UN FAO definition of Food Security as defined in 2001 is “Food security [is] a
situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic
access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food
preferences for an active and healthy life”.
Experts agree that achieving food security is a complex and multidimensional issue
consisting of Sociological, Technological, Economic, Environmental and Political factors,
but one glaring fact sticks out: around 30-50% of all food produced is not consumed and
is classified as either food loss or food waste.
What's the difference between food loss and food waste?
In general terms, food loss relates to primary production, harvesting and post-harvest
handling and storage. Whereas food waste is attributed to the processing and packaging
stages through to distribution, market and consumption stages. Although there is an
overlap, food waste is generally when the food is fit for consumption but wasted.
Over the past few years there have been some pretty impactful briefings on the key
issues. One such briefing was from US based think-tank, World Resources Institute
(WRI).
WRI shared statistics from UN FAO (2011) on food loss and food waste in 2009:
• 32% of global food supply by weight is lost or wasted
• Land Impact: about 489 million acres of land are used to grow the food that is lost
or wasted – this area is about the size of Malaysia.
• Water impact: about 24% of all water used in agriculture is used to grow food that
never gets consumed
• Environment impact: the overall food loss is the equivalent to the annual
greenhouse gas emissions of the United States

2.
Shantalla
Inc.
©
2014
We can agree that something needs to change. Let’s look briefly at where food loss and
food waste occurs in the value chain:
• Primary production plus storage and handling are the pre-market stages and
account equally for 24% - combined it's a massive 48% of the total loss
• Factory processing and packaging or the “middle of the value chain” is 4%
• Losses during physical distribution & market stages accounts for 12%
• The consumption stage in the value chain accounts for 35%
WRI's research highlights that per capita, North America and Oceania stand out from
other regions, with about 1,500 kcal per person per day lost or wasted from farm to fork.
Europe and Industrialized Asia have similar levels of per capita loss and waste. We need
to ask why do North America and Oceania stand out?. Whereas less developed countries
tend to have lower overall levels of food waste, which is significantly lower in the
consumption stage. Food waste in the USA per household equates to about USD 1,600
annually. By comparison, the UK is estimated at UKP 680 per family whereas estimates
suggest China throws away about USD 32 billion in food annually according to WRI.
Are we doomed ?
Malthus said we were 200 years ago. He has been proven wrong, and the high
probability is that today’s pessimists will be wrong also. But we surely have an obligation
to be more efficient with whatever we produce, and to minimize the impact our food
producing activity has on our already fragile environment.
WRI suggests that by reducing food loss and waste we can close the 2050 food gap by a
staggering 22%. Add to this the impact of smart science on food technologies, and
improved use and control of the resources that go into food production and the chances
of achieving food security, despite rapid population growth are probably quite high.
Reducing food loss and food waste will take time and a concerted effort with appropriate
interventions. Japan, as an example has shown impressive foresight as early as the
1960’s when they introduced cold chain infrastructure (refrigeration) and later, laws to
recycle food waste to create energy and animal feeds. The amount of food recycled by
the Japanese program from factories, restaurants, hotels and households is admirable.

3.
Shantalla
Inc.
©
2014
What can you do to help?
Awareness of the issues and education on best practices is vital at all stages in the value
chain. A massive 48% of food loss occurs before it reaches the market stage due to
inefficiencies and incompetency’s in the primary production and post-harvest
handling and storage stages of the value chain. Notwithstanding the known lack of
infrastructure in many developing economies, capacity building activities are more critical
now than ever before. But they must strike a balance between Good Agricultural
Practices, adoption of new technologies, global supply chain standards and education on
best practices. One question that begs asking: can some of the pre-market loss be
recycled to create energy or animal feed as Japan has done successfully?
The 35% that is wasted in the consumption stage is within the control of retail, food
service and consumers. Each of us can start at home by reducing our kitchen waste, re-
using what we overcook and buying perishable foods more often rather than in bulk.
Retailers have started innovating by using the GS1 Databar; which is a smaller bar code
that you may find on an individual apple or orange. The GS1 Databar allows for
embedding of additional data into the bar code such as batch # or expiry date and can be
used for dynamic pricing as the perishables gets closer to the end of their shelf life.
Research in Europe highlighted that consumers are willing to buy fresh produce nearing
the end of shelf-life. Are retailers willing to offer incentives through reduced pricing?
Restaurants can contribute by reducing portion size to reduce waste. Several US campus
restaurants have experimented with "tray-less" and the reduction in waste was
significant.
Whether you are a farmer, fisher, producer, manufacturer, distributor, importer, retailer,
restaurant owner or consumer, we all need to fully grasp and understand the magnitude
of the issues ahead and then take responsibility for our actions. Our collective actions
may one day contribute to sidestepping this looming global crisis and we can continue to
prove Malthus was wrong !
And remember, if we all do just a little, it will help a lot.
John G. Keogh
John@shantalla.org