Here are some shocking statistics published in a report by the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers this week: up to two billion tons of food is wasted annually, that is up to 50 percent of global food production. They estimate that 30-50 percent of food produced is never eaten. And yet the World Food Program estimates that there are 870 million people on the planet going hungry today, that is one in eight. What shocks me even more is that this finding is not new. This time last year the European Commission voted a resolution on this very subject after a study it had commissioned found that 50 percent of food produced is wasted. They estimate human food waste in the EU at 89 million tons annually or 179kg per person and add that if nothing is done, this waste will rise to 126 million tons by 2020. How often at the end of a dinner party have you seen heaps of food on plates and on platters thrown into bins? Or how often have you bought and kept food and then when you finally get around to eating it find that it is past its use-by date and so you throw it away? Both of these situations are, unfortunately, rather familiar to me. I have often been invited to a wedding or a dinner and have found a buffet large enough to feed an army. Too much food to start with, but then also, many people pile it on their plates but only eat a few bites, leaving on the tables plates of wasted food that end up being thrown away. Some of the untouched platters may be sent to a charity or to poor families, but most often it is all just thrown away, especially in Europe and the US where by law caterers and restaurants have to throw away food that has been served but not eaten. Do you know the difference between a sell-by and a use-by date? Did you even know there was a difference, or were you like me, aware just that there is a date printed on packaged food and assumed that after that you shouldn't eat it? I feel a little reassured that, just like me, 18 percent of EU citizens were in the dark on this one. Here is the answer: a sell-by date is a mark of quality, a use-by date a mark of food safety.
The first tells a supermarket to only sell this food up to that date because afterwards its quality will have deteriorated. The second tells the consumer that after this date the food will no longer be safe to eat. Furthermore, use-by dates have to be conservative. Food past its use-by date can be safe to eat, it all depends on how it has been kept, but quite understandably food producers cannot take the risk of telling you food is safe when it might not be. Supermarkets throw away tons of food that is perfectly safe to eat because it is past its sell-by date, and consumers throw away food that they have bought because they confuse sell-by and use-by dates. What is more, in a number of countries in the EU, laws prohibit grocers from selling food at a loss, forcing them to throw away unsold fresh food at the end of the day rather than sell it off at bargain prices. The result: Half the food purchased in Europe and the US is thrown away after it is bought. But this is not the end of the story. While in developed countries food is wasted at the consumption stage, in developing countries, the waste is at the production stage. Take cereal production, 14 percent is lost during the process of being harvested and a further 15 percent is lost once the food is in the process of reaching the consumer. Why? Poor engineering and agricultural practices and poor storage facilities and transport infrastructure. As someone lucky enough to live in plenty, I feel deeply ashamed of the food that is wasted both by consumers like me and by those who bring food to our plates. Supermarkets create waste by refusing to buy fruit and vegetables that are not perfect – up to 30 percent of British crops are not even harvested because the fruits or vegetables are not the right shape or size – but that is because consumers refuse to buy products that are less than pretty. They also throw away food that is safe to eat when they could give it away to the needy. It is shameful. The good news is that all this waste creates opportunities to increase the food that does get eaten. Investment in better engineering and agricultural practices and in storage and transport infrastructure can radically cut the amount of food wasted before it reaches the shops. Public awareness of wastage, as well as initiatives to make food available in different packaging sizes, with clearer use-by rather than sell-by dates, can encourage consumers to waste less. As for supermarkets and restaurants, there are a growing number of partnerships with charities such as food banks to distribute unsold food to the needy. This planet produces enough food to feed all of its inhabitants; it is shameful that millions go hungry while millions throw away food. It doesn't take much to reduce food wastage, each one of us can do something about it. — Imane Kurdi is a Saudi writer on European affairs. She can be reached at [email protected]
