800 Million Facing Famine… While the World Wastes a Billion Meals Daily
The United Nations has stated that the world is facing a “tragedy” after the “Food Waste Index” report revealed that households and companies wasted food worth more than a trillion dollars, while 800 million people around the globe are living in famine.
The United Nations emphasized that over a billion tons of food, approximately one-fifth of the products available in the market, were wasted in 2022, with most of it being discarded by households, equivalent to a billion meals daily.
“Inger Andersen,” Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said that “food waste is a global tragedy… millions suffer from hunger today, while food is wasted all over the world.”
Environmental Peril
In addition to considering the waste of these food quantities as “a moral failure,” according to the report, it represents an “environmental failure” as well. Food waste generates emissions that raise the planet’s temperature more than five times those caused by the aviation sector and requires vast areas to be converted into agricultural land for crops that are never consumed.
More than a Billion Meals
The report indicated that the figure of “a billion meals” is a “very conservative estimate,” and “the actual number may be much higher.”
Richard Swannel of the UN-affiliated organization “WRAP” stated: “You can actually feed all the people currently suffering from hunger in the world, around 800 million, with just one daily meal of the food thrown away each year.”
He mentioned that producers and retailers have somewhat contributed to reducing waste and delivering food to those in need, but emphasized the need for more similar measures.
Primary Culprits?
Food service companies such as restaurants, canteens, and hotels were responsible for 28% of wasted food in 2022, while retail trade such as butcher shops and vegetable sales accounted for 12% of it.
However, the biggest culprit was households, disposing of 60% of the total wasted food, approximately 631 million tons.
Swannel explained that this is largely attributed to people simply buying more food than they need, but also misjudging the portion sizes they prepare and not consuming food leftovers.
