By Mark DaCosta- Regarding today’s observance among others – on September 29, 2023 — the United Nations (UN) has released the following statement: “International Days and Weeks are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilise political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity. The existence of international days predates the establishment of the United Nations, but the UN has embraced them as a powerful advocacy tool.”
The theme of this observance is, “Reducing food loss and waste: Taking Action to Transform Food Systems.”
According to the UN, this day is an opportunity to call to action both the public (national or local authorities) and the private sector (businesses and individuals), to prioritise actions and move ahead with innovation to reduce food loss and waste towards restoring and building back better and resilient-ready, food systems.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN defines food loss and waste as the decrease in quantity or quality of food along the food supply chain. Within this framework, UN Agencies distinguish loss and waste at two different stages in the supply process:
Food loss occurs along the food supply chain from harvest, slaughter, and transport to, but not including, the sales level. That is, between production and before it reaches the marketplace.
Food waste occurs at the retail and consumption level. That is, at points of sale or at home
According to reports, everytime food is lost or wasted, everything that goes into producing that food are also wasted. These include water, land, and labour. Additionally, the destruction or decomposition of wasted and lost food contributes some 3.3 billion tons of carbon emissions every year.
The FAO has announced that globally, around 13 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and retail, while an estimated 17 percent of total global food production is wasted in households, in the food service and in retail all together.
Sadly, while all that food is being wasted or lost, the rate of undernourishment worldwide was an average of 9.8 per cent in 2021. The region with the largest share of undernourished people was Sub-Saharan Africa, with 23.2 per cent of people being malnourished.
The UN states that in 2022 between 691 and 783 million people faced hunger.
The UN has made detailed recommendations to address the issue. Those recommendations fall within the following broad categories:
Reduce food waste by improving product development, storage, shopping/ordering, marketing, labelling, and cooking methods.
Recover food waste by connecting potential food donors to hunger relief organisations like food banks and pantries.
Recycle food waste to feed animals or to create compost, bioenergy, and natural fertilisers.
