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The problem of food waste
Reduction in food waste essay
Example of food waste
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Almost two billion tonnes of food is waste around the world every year. Meanwhile, twenty million people suffer starvation in countries such as Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia, and Nigeria. Moreover, while farmers work hard to sustain the most essential element in civilization, almost one-third of the world’s population doesn’t even receive anything. Which is maddening that first world nations’ governments does not make actions on how to donate or maybe sell them for cheaper to countries that are in need instead of just dumping the food waste on landfills. Landfills have a huge impact on Earth for removing oxygen, which causes to break down aerobic process and as a result it releases methane. Furthermore, landfills will affect animals near it and
Food waste is classified in many ways, such as through a liquid form like water, garden waste, plate waste which is the food that is left behind after eating a meal, and lastly Luxus waste which is a term for overconsumption as a form of food waste that leads to health problems. But according to the article about food waste written by George Willson “food loss refers to the decrease in edible mass that occurs at production, postharvest, and processing stages in the food supply chain, whereas food waste occurs at the end of the food chain in retail and final consumption” (Willson). Therefore, food waste has multiple sources on where it comes from. And though we as the consumer, we will have the power to stop this ongoing
Many consumers misunderstand the labels and sometimes throw food that can still be considered as edible. As a result, just in the United Kingdom alone “2 million tonnes of annual food waste is due to confusion over date labels” which is a very devastating statistic because this kind of issue can be easily resolved if someone actually cared about the food waste problem (Clearer label plan in bid to reduce food waste). In effect, U.K.’s food department are attempting a new way to improve labelling to prevent edible food to go into the garbage. With this in mind, the waste agency decided to stop using complicated labels such as saying that milk can only stay 3 days in the fridge after opening but as a matter of fact it could actually stay much longer. The plan is that to replace the phrase “sell by” and start using “display by” because through this, consumer will have an idea when the food is bad to eat. Overall, this will teach people that food are still safe to eat even after the sell date and the only downside to it is that it’s less fresh than
The majority of people waste food on a daily basis. In fact, in the U.S. alone there is an estimate that over half of the food produced goes uneaten; meanwhile there are people who are in need of food, and it ultimately goes to waste (Dockterman). For example, in his essay, “On Dumpster Diving,” author Lars Eighner writes about his experiences of dumpster diving with his pet dog, during his years of homelessness. According to Eighner, much of the food and materials he came across in the dumpsters were in usable shape, and many items were new. Clearly there needs to be a change in American food waste, in current and, hopefully not so much in, future generations.
In our fast pace society, we base everything on time and money. This need to save money and time has transformed the way we see food and purchase food. Food is an essential part of all cultures. It plays a role in every person’s life. The population has the power to choose what we eat and how the food industry is shaped. There are many important questions that we need to ask ourselves in order to keep the food industry in check. These questions are: How do we know our food is safe? What should we eat? How should food be distributed? What is good food? These are simple yet difficult questions.
Much of the food is thrown into landfills, where it rots, which has very negative effects on the environment. According to John Oliver, the food left to rot in the landfills releases methane, an extremely powerful greenhouse gas (Oliver, 2015). Methane is a greenhouse gas, meaning it destroys the ozone layer and contributes to the warming of the earth. By refraining from throwing out so much food, or at least redirecting it to people who need it, food waste would be reduced, and so would its harm on the environment. Not only does the rotting food release greenhouse gases, the resources wasted to deal with the unwanted food are huge. According to Kevin Hall, Juen Guo, Michael Dore, and Carson Chow, “Food waste contributes to excess consumption of freshwater and fossil fuels which, along with methane and CO2 emissions from decomposing food, impacts global climate change” (Hall, Guo, Dore, & Chow, 2009, p. 1). America is essentially using resources like water and fossil fuels, that we could be directing towards a better cause, to dispose of perfectly good food that will then release harmful gases of methane and carbon dioxide. Food waste matters because it is a complete waste of valuable resources and food that is needed by many, while also contributing to the growing problem of climate
If we label articles such as cleaning supplies and nail polish remover that will do harm when ingested then why do we not label foods that can cause serious illness of death? Each day thousands of adults and children are diagnosed with disabling conditions such as heart disease and diabetes and the rates are rapidly increasing. Many of these lifelong impairments are directly related to the diets that we attest to as a society. Foods with GMO’s, hydrogenated oils, artificial sugars (aspartame), high fructose corn syrup, and monosodium glutamate ought to be clearly labeled on the front of its packaging for the consumer to recognize.
The article “Junk Planet: Is Earth the Largest Garbage Dump in the Universe?,” by Robert J. Burrowes, claims that earth likely is the largest garbage dump in the world. Burrowes describes the types of garbage that are created, the locations where it is being discarded, and potential solutions to the problem. One form of garbage is pollution, the carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere from cars, electricity, and farming of animals. These pollutants can potentially cause cancer, asthma, and birth defects among other consequences. The solution he proposes to this is to not travel by air or car as well as refrain from eating meat. The next form of garbage Burrowes examines is the ocean garbage. While plastic largely contributes to the destruction of oceans, the absorption of carbon dioxide and chemical runoff does as well.
Food Wastage: Literature Review According to Food and agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FOA, 2013) food waste refers to food appropriate for human consumption being that is discarded, whether or not after it is kept beyond its expiry date or spoiled. The global volume of food wastage is estimated to be 1.6 Gtonnes (one tonne is equal to 100 kilograms), while the total wastage for the edible part of food is 1.3 Gtonnes. This equals out to be One-third of all food produced in the world, that is lost or wasted from farm to fork. In developed countries, wastage occurs mainly at the retail and consumption levels, due to overly constraining regulations and unsustainable consumption patterns (Gustavsson et al, 2011).
Processed foods make up 70% of the U.S. diet. Over the past century, a gradual revolution continues to increase the average consumer’s intake of highly processed food products. Everyday, new food-like substances are replacing real food on supermarket shelves and companies continue to fuel this epidemic by mislabeling products. Consumers must learn how to avoid processed food substances, which have been associated to numerous health concerns, and select healthier alternatives.
I have chosen the topic of food waste and the impact on the environment. I will discuss the ridiculous amount of food that is wasted each year and the staggering amount of waste that could be avoided just by planning ahead, and purchasing from farmer’s markets and avoiding the main stream supermarkets who set such high standards on the aesthetic of produce that tonnes are wasted for no reason other then shape.
The use of food wastes as animal feed is an alternative of high interest because it produces an environmental and public benefit besides reducing the cost of animal production. Feeding, Converting and recycling of leftover food into animal feed are very important because leftover food can contribute to not only increase the nutritive value of feed but also decreasing environmental pollution(Westendorf et al., 1998, Westendorf, 2000). Therefore, the best recycling method of cafeteria leftover was to convert it into animal feed. Although, the chemical composition of food leftover is variable, food wastes are generally high in fat and moderately high in protein and ash(Myer et al., 1999, Westendorf, 2000). The digestibility of nutrients in food leftover is generally not
Food waste is the biggest space consumer in our landfills, which may seem surprising, but shouldn’t be based on the amount of food that is consumed on a daily basis and the large proportion of food that is wasted. The main problem with the amount of food waste in landfills, is that it produces methane as it decomposes which is detrimental to the atmosphere as a whole, and can have lasting effects. The buildup of all the methane produced results in huge amounts of global warming potential which is extremely detrimental to our environment. Also, because of the fact that so many resources are used in order to grow certain foods, they are all being put to waste when the food that used these resources goes directly to landfills. This applies to water usage, soil richness, and petroleum usage. As far as costs go, food waste affects the economy by about $750 billion a year, which is a massive amount of money that could be going elsewhere. Because we are losing so much money, it is clear that there is a great need for change in the food system, especially in the United
Food waste is huge issue these days. It is a huge amount of waste that ends up in landfills and can have lasting effects on the environment. One of major issues of food waste is the greenhouse gases that it produces. Methane gas is the main culprit when it comes to the gases being released. This can absorb infrared radiation and heat up the earth’s atmosphere and cause climate change. Another issue that food waste causes is, water loss due to use for production of fruits and vegetables.
Food waste is an increasingly important topic due to the environmental and financial impact it has. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, food waste is the” discarding of food that is safe and nutritious for human consumption along the entire food chain, from the initial production to the end household consumer level” (“Food Loss and Food Waste”). The role that consumers play in generating food waste is an important aspect of food waste that needs to be addressed to enact solutions. It is estimated by the United States Department of Agriculture that consumers wasted approximately “133 billion pounds of food and $161 billion worth of food in 2010” (“Food Waste Challenge”). Consumers not only play a crucial
The United States produces “about 8.25 billion tons of solid wastes each year” (Russell 1). People do not realize the impact they have on our planet and environment. When people throw anything in the trashcan, they are contributing to the destruction of our planet. The number landfills in the United States are decreasing, but the amount and volume of waste being thrown into the new landfills is increasing (Russell 4). Because of this escalating amount of garbage, Methane which contributes to global warming is an outcome of these landfills (Russell 7). As a result, our planet is suffering because of this epidemic. The garbage being put in the landfills could be recycled, but not enough businesses, ...
Food Preservation is the ways to retain the food quality in a longer times. It is to prevent the food decomposition and fermentation. Besides that, food preservation not only to prevent the food getting spoilt in a long period of time but also preserved the colour, taste and the food nutritive value. Nowadays, food preservation has become more and more important component in the food industry as the consumers expect that able to purchase those foods that are out of season or imported from other countries. Furthermore, there are few reason why food preservation is important in our daily life such as preservation foods when they are in season it may added variety choices in our meals for example smoke meats and