JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Majd Abdulla (U of British Columbia), Ralph C. Martin (U of Guelph), Martin Gooch (Value Chain Management International), and Eduardo Jovel (U of British Columbia) [authors' affiliations during the research period]
Awareness of food waste and its impact on the economy and the environment is growing nationally and globally. This interest is being triggered directly by factors such as soaring food prices, green-house gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture, and world hunger and increasing global food insecurity. Yet surprisingly little research is being conducted into how much food is wasted and why, particularly since reducing the wastage of food already produced is the more appropriate option for feeding a growing population and lessening the agri-food industry’s impact on the environment.
In Canada, food waste was valued at CAD27 billion annually. This equaled 2 percent of Canadian GDP, and exceeded the amount that Canadians spent on dining out in 2009. The share of food wasted was approximately 40 percent of all food produced in Canada. It is important to recognize that the environmental cost of high levels of GHG emission, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), is not included in this estimate. The largest contributor to food waste along the food chain is the consumer. More than 50 percent of the estimated CAD27 billion worth of waste that ends up at landfills came from Canadian homes.
This paper examines food waste at both the consumer and retailer levels. We used data from reports published by Statistics Canada and the World Bank to calculate the amount of food waste from the food available for consumption from 1961 to 2009. The preliminary results of the research show that food waste increased over time in relation to the food available for consumption.
KEY OUTCOMES
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Food waste increased by 40 percent over the nearly five decades from 1961 to 2009; In total, the increase in food waste outpaced the increase in available food for consumption over the same period of time.
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Data in the five-year review indicate that consumers ate an increasing amount of baked goods and fresh produce, such as whole grain bread and refrigerated bagged salads, and a decreasing amount of canned or prepared foods.
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The positive relationship between consumption and food waste might be the outcome of using a waste factor as a percentage of the total consumption.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY AND PRACTICE
Analysis starts with farmers and ends with consumers; they, and everyone in between, play a part in generating food waste. The reasons for each agent’s generation of food waste are case-specific. Therefore, the methodologies used to quantify food waste must be able to accommodate the role of each agent. Other agents who sometimes play key but hidden roles in the food system are policy makers and educators. Addressing these factors in the context of current policy may help prevent food waste and reduce the problem. In order to effectively do so, the perception of food waste has to be expanded from management to preventative policy. Ultimately, quantifying food waste would need to be a “must” in order to prevent it.
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Food waste is a pernicious and often overlooked metric for our local and global food systems. Through a comparative analysis in Canada, researchers dive deep into the historic and current indications of food waste. Read the entire article for free at https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2013.032.018 #Canada, #energywaste, #foodwaste
Imae above: Figure 1 from the article " A Holistic Understanding of the Benefits of Quantifying Food Waste and Creation of a More Sustainable Society"
