WHAT A WASTE OF FOOD

The world wastes as much as one third of all food production. We can regard this as official, because it comes from a new report commissioned by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation. Stop for a moment and think about it. Millions are starving. Yet we produce 50% more than we currently consume. It’s just thrown away. In Europe and North America, the average amount wasted is 105kg per person per year. Apparently, much of this is fruit and vegetables and can be reduced by consumers not being slaves to ‘use by’ dates and by retailers redistributing ‘out of date’ stocks. In sub-saharan Africa and South and East Asia, the average is a far smaller 8kg. What’s primarily needed here is a stronger supply chain with better transport. Opportunities not to be wasted.