Food wastage accounts for roughly one-third of the food supply each year. This wastage of food has the potential to feed a billion people. Food waste is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated urban challenges, resulting in a loop of numerous commodities being disposed of in inefficient ways. Let's start with a definition of food waste. Food waste is defined as food that is of good quality and fit for human consumption but is not consumed because it is abandoned before or after spoiling. Food waste is the outcome of misaligned movement from fields to stores to homes, and it is the consumer's decision.
Food waste is not synonymous with food loss. Food loss is defined as food that spills, degrades, suffers an abnormal decrease in quality such as bruising or wilting, or is otherwise lost before reaching the customer. Food losses are caused by either natural deterioration or by activities done by the farmer or transporter. Simply explained, harvested fruits that fall off a truck are classified as food loss, whereas brown-stained fruits that are discarded at a grocery store or at home are classified as food waste.
When it comes to food waste, shops have the lowest proportion of food discarded, at roughly 5%. Households account for roughly 70-80% of total food waste. It is critical to consider why we need to change this. You will not only be able to feed others if you waste less food, but you will also have more money to spend on better/more nutritious food.
What Can We Do To Lessen The Massive Amount Of Food Waste?
Even while there are methods like making shopping lists, purchasing less food at a time, and following your instincts rather than expiration dates, these are extremely difficult to put into practice. In reality, Food Tech is the solution. While most food technology focuses on developing simple user experiences, some technology is targeted toward minimising widespread food waste. Apps and platforms that help individuals plan their meals and diets, in particular, tend to regulate and control the portions of food that they buy, so avoiding waste. Aside from decreasing food waste, you will be able to enjoy the dinner guilt-free. Allow the app to do the planning, organising, and shopping, and you can enjoy your meal guilt-free. Furthermore, there are many cooking recipes and smart chef platforms that allow their users to recycle or upcycle leftover food in delicious ways, reducing food waste.
On a moderately positive note, while decreasing and monitoring food waste throughout a country may appear to be a challenging task for a single vendor, we can be certain that tiny adjustments in households will generate significant results. A simple effort on our part, such as utilising one of these applications, might be sufficient to reduce food waste and may inspire others to do the same.