The Overlooked Plague: Food Waste
Every year, approximately 9 million people die from hunger globally (World Food Programme) and more than 768 million people were experiencing hunger in 2021 (United Nations). Food insecurity has been on the rise, especially since 2015, as the result of the pandemic, climate change, and growing inequalities, according to the United Nations, and it will continue to impact millions of adults and children, many of whom suffer from malnutrition. Despite a myriad of global efforts, including the United Nations’ ambitious Sustainable Development goals that aim to end global poverty by 2030, global hunger will not subside unless nations make a commitment collectively to reducing their food waste.
Increasing food waste is one of the main factors that exacerbates global poverty. Just in the United States alone, 92 billion pounds of food are thrown away annually, an amount sufficient to feed 46 million people (National Public Radio and Feeding America). It is common sense that food waste not only harms our environment, but it also leads to reduced food resources; nonetheless, not enough efforts are being made to find solutions. Is achieving “zero hunger” even a realistic goal?
Reducing food waste can be more than a Utopian project if collective efforts are made not just by NGOs and local nonprofits but also by the entire food industry. According to Fourth, a company focused on offering solutions to restaurants and hospitality businesses, 84.3 percent of unused food is thrown away in restaurants, leading to a net 75,000 pounds of food waste per year in a single restaurant. This makes up for 40 percent of the total amount of food thrown away in the United States; this translates to a grand total of 66 billion pounds of waste just from commercial sources. Such excessive food waste, however, can be easily reduced if restaurants start serving smaller portions. Restaurants, especially fast food chains, are notorious for serving oversized meals. Serving smaller portions will not only help reduce food waste, but it will also have fewer detrimental impacts on health.
Government agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture have made efforts to solve the problem of increasing food waste. However, despite their actions, food waste reduction has not made significant progress. From 2016 to 2022, per capita food waste only decreased by 2 percent; factors such as expiration dates, grocery stores and packaging has only caused the issue to skyrocket. Consumers may be more incentivized to throw away food that is edible due to a misunderstanding of the expiration date; often, grocery stores overstock on items and must throw them away past their shelf life. Packaging has been found to incentivize customers to buy more than they can consume. Policies, no matter how sophisticated and thorough they may be, cannot be fully executed if the public is not informed. Hence, education becomes critical to raise public awareness and encourage citizens to participate in this global effort. When the seriousness of food waste is shared publicly and the necessity of implementing policies that reduce food waste is stressed, consumers will be motivated to refrain from excessive buying and wasting.
The goal of reducing food waste can be further achieved when individuals make changes to their lifestyles. Individuals can go as simply as finishing the plate to as far as planning meals and buying sufficient amounts of ingredients. Regardless of what policies and laws governments and organizations push on us, our decisions have the ultimate and critical impact on our global community.
Food waste is a very prominent yet overlooked issue, contributing to the deaths of millions around the world. How much food we throw out everyday can feed and sustain millions of families across the world. Although the blame can’t be pinpointed exactly on one factor, there are so many ways that we can prevent as much food from being thrown out. Ranging from policies implemented by government agencies and multinational organizations to strategies implemented by private businesses to maximize efficiency, to personal care and organization of food in households, there are solutions that are no longer Utopian. Achieving “zero hunger” is possible - it’s a matter of when.
