Good food is a terrible thing to waste. While I am sure that everyone would agree with this sentiment, food waste research reveals a very different story about how our food system values food. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, about 14% of food is wasted, globally. That’s a lot of food! In fact, if food waste represented a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions (behind the United States and China).
The good news
If we were able to fix the issues within our food system that generate this waste, we would not only reduce the environmental impact of our food system, but we could also support food security for many! And while this challenge appears large, there are many small fixes that you can make on a day to day basis to be part of the solution.
In addition, to support the transition to a more sustainable food system, the United Nations created the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste this year! To celebrate, let’s dive into what this day is all about and what we can do to make positive change!
What is the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
The COVID-19 pandemic has been what the United Nations is calling, “a wakeup call on the need to transform and rebalance the way our food is produced and consumed.” What they mean is that our food system is prone to producing waste. For example, at the production stage in a food supply chain, farmers often reject produce that looks imperfect even though it has the same nutritional value as what the average consumer would call “perfect”. This leaves a lot of good food wasted in the field. At the other end of the food supply chain, when the food is purchased and in the household, we also waste a lot of food. Often food waste in the home is due to not knowing how to store food properly and misinterpreting best before dates as expiry dates.
The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste is all about paying attention and recognizing these faults in our food system and finding solutions to them!
How you can help
At Spud, we try our very best to reduce food waste where we can and have tons of resources to help our customers do the same. Check out the links below to get some good tips and tricks to food waste reduction:
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