Ugly Tomato - © foodtank.com

World Food Waste Escalating

The latest predictions about global food waste are dark and troubling. There’s still time to head off mass starvation by mid-century – if the world comes together in a global, coordinated effort to change our attitudes towards food and the way we handle food from farm to fork. But it’s a big challenge…

Wasted Food Dump - © thehansindia.comAbout 40 percent of the produce grown in the world is lost, either by culling or spoilage,
before it can reach the consumer’s table. And the situation is getting worse.

A new study by The Boston Consulting Group predicts that global food waste will continue to increase, rising by 66 percent between now and 2030, That’s absolutely shocking, as far as I’m concerned. It translates to 2.1 billion tonnes a year either being lost or thrown away, or 66 tonnes per second.

Why?

How we look at food…

The issue turns, largely, on how we look at food and how it’s handled through the food chain.

Since the sixties, the wholesale and retail links in that chain have conspired (albeit unaware of the damage they’ve been doing) to make most consumers in the western world ultra-picky about how their food looks, rather than how nutritious it is or how wholesome. The Ugly Food movement, pressing folks to eat misshapen or off-size Fruits and Veggies rather than just throw them away, is barely making a dent in the problem, because people have been conditioned to want only perfect Apples or Tomatoes, or Sweet peppers – all exactly the same size, unblemished and all at the same stage of ripeness. But we all know they don’t grow that way. What happens to all the other Apples and Tomatoes and other produce? The ‘rejects’?

The Great Cull…

At the farm, even before the produce is boxed for shipment, the imperfect examples (which don’t meet established industry size or colour standards) are culled from the harvest and just thrown away. That’s because the wholesalers and retailers (supermarkets) won’t take them, claiming they can’t sell them. That’s because the food industry, through its standards, has trained consumers to accept only perfect fruits and veggies. And the industry adheres to those standards because it want to woo the customer and be more competitive in the marketplace.

No difference in nutrition or wholesomeness…

Ugly (imperfect) Fruits and Veggies are no less healthy or nutritious than their perfect counterparts. They just don’t look pretty. And, if we (consumers) continue to play into the industry’s hand by demanding perfection, we’ll be just as guilty as the rest of the members of the food chain of enabling food waste.

Some supermarkets have token programs to promote the consumption of ugly, off-standard produce items. We can all get on the anti-wastage bandwagon simply by demanding that our supermarkets make available more ‘Ugly’ food. Of course, we’ll expect to get it at discount prices compared to the ‘pretty’ stuff we’ve been paying premium prices for, for decades. But, then, they supermarkets will sell less of the perfect produce, and that will cut into their profits, so they won’t me motivated to do it. That’s a classic vicious circle.

What can we do?

Society has to make it viable for growers to not throw out so much food. One suggestion I’ve heard is, we should amp-up the production of preserved foods. It doesn’t make one bit of difference to the end user if their Tomato Sauce or Canned Tomatoes, or Carrot Coins are made from pretty or ugly fruit. Apple Sauce is another example of a food product that can be made from any size or shape of fruit.

So what if we have a surplus? We can always export canned goods to places that need food. And in so doing, we’d be making a profit from something we’d otherwise just throw away. And we’d be helping feed those in need.

Another suggestion is, we should institute government or NGO programs to systematically account for Ugly Food and direct it to Homeless Shelters, Soup Kitchens, Food Banks and other such agencies at little or no cost. Charge those who can afford it just enough to cover the cost of shipping from the farm gate to the institution’s loading dock.

I’m sure other potential solutions to the Food Waste Problem are out there just waiting to be talked up and acted upon.

The need is urgent…

The new Boston Consulting Group report on escalating food waste make it clear that the problem is urgent ans getting more so by the day. We need to get plans together now to head off the situation the study is predicting for 2010. It’ll take an effort, but we’ll all be better off in the end.

~ Maggie J.