Study Finds Half of All Food Produced Worldwide is Wasted
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles 
on 08.22.08
Image from sporkist
And you thought $20 billion worth of wasted food was a lot. According to a new policy brief issued by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Stockholm International Water Institute and the International Water Management Institute, huge amounts of food -- close to half of all food produced worldwide -- are wasted after production.
The current food crisis we are facing is not one of production, the authors argue, but one of waste. These large quantities of wasted food translate into equally large amounts of wasted water (think "virtual water"); Charlotte de Fraiture, a researcher at IWMI, told ENS that almost half of the water consumed annually to grow food is lost or wasted.
Anybody who has ever eaten at a buffet or gone to a supermarket knows how much food we waste on a regular basis. You needn't be a devoted freegan to appreciate just how much of the food we throw away is still in near-pristine condition. As if wasting all that food weren't bad enough, one can only imagine the vast quantities water that get frittered away worldwide during production (too much). In the U.S. alone, around 40 trillion liters of water (roughly the amount needed to produce 30% of the country's food), enough to supply the needs of 500 million families, are lost every year.
Many of the report's recommendations border on the obvious: improve water productivity, curb wasteful eating habits and optimize food production, to name just a few. Another good idea would be to use water labeling for food products -- so people know how much water went into producing their beef (2,500 gallons per pound, at last count) or favorite cereal, for instance.
In their conclusion, the authors call on the global community to reduce the amount of wasted food and water by half by 2025 -- a readily achievable goal, they say. By some accounts, there is more than enough water available for everyone provided it is well-managed. Mongabay's Jeremy Hance reports:
But what if the human population requires more water than is available? Chenoweth states that is unlikely. "Globally, there is adequate fresh water available, and that looks set to continue in the long term. Figures from the FAO indicate that we currently extract less than 10 per cent of the 43,750 cubic kilometers of fresh water returned each year to the Earth's rivers, lakes and aquifers. The water is not distributed evenly, of course. Within a given country water consumption can vary from less than 1 percent of available resources to more than 100 percent, meaning that in some cases resources are being overexploited and degraded." Chenoweth writes that the overexploitation of water can be stopped: "nations can thrive on surprisingly meager quantities of fresh water provided they adopt water-efficient technologies and encourage economic activity that doesn't guzzle water."In fact, Chenoweth estimates that for a high quality of life every person requires approximately 135 liters (over 35 gallons) a day. His estimate includes cooking, drinking, hygiene, as well as industry, agriculture, and service sectors. Currently the world's largest water guzzlers in the developed world—Canada and New Zealand—consume 700 liters of water per person per day.
Getting people to voluntarily cut back on their water consumption won't be easy. Water efficiency technologies and regulations can only do so much; in the long run, as I and many others have mentioned before, the optimal solution is to simply put a price on water that accurately reflects supply and demand.
Via ::Environmental News Service: Half of All Food Produced Worldwide is Wasted (news website)
More about waste
::Britons Waste $20bn Worth of Food a Year
::Reduce Waste: Lose the Cafeteria Trays
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So why do certain people keep saying that there isn't enough food for everyone if it were produced organically? When we have millions of tons being dumped each year?
That meme is only true if Cheap Meat is a required part of the food spectrum...that and wasted food.
That meme is only true if Cheap Meat is a required part of the food spectrum...that and wasted food.
Money. Business. Greed.
I work at my local Wal-Mart, in the Produce/Bakery/Deli area and I know they throw away almost as much as they sell. They refuse to give anything getting near to the expiration or older food to homeless shelters. It's all about getting as much for their money as possible. They would rather throw it away, than to give it away.
From the article:
"Currently the world's largest water guzzlers in the developed world—Canada and New Zealand—consume 700 liters of water per person per day."
and
"The water is not distributed evenly, of course."
Yes, New Zealanders and Canadians use shocking amounts of water compared to people in Australia and Arizona, because they get more rain than people in Arizona and Australia.
But hey, if you like, we can just truck the excess (and there's still plenty of that, after the shocking amounts we use) to the drier bits that can afford it.
Why truck water? Water is most efficiently moved in pipes. Of course, it is hard tor each Australia that way, but no reason to truck from Canada to the American southwest.
akshuga: I don't know in which state you live, but until recently, here in Florida, it was illegal to give leftover food to homeless shelters or anywhere but the dumpster. I have to give kudos to Charlie Christ for passing legislation to reverse that.
One more thing I'd like to say is that more food is wasted before it even hits the store than could ever be wasted in our homes! A trucker once told me that a grocery store can refuse a whole truckload of produce if they don't like the way it looks when they open the truck. The driver then has to dump the whole load and pay to do so. First, he will look in the yellow pages for a farmer's market who will take it cheap, or he can sell it as compost to a farmer, but if there is none, then in the trash it goes. :-(
I was wondering if anyone had previously mentioned the program here in New York City, called City Harvest. They rescue roughly 20 million pounds of discarded food per year and redistribute it to those in need. Its a great organization and I wonder if it can or has been replicated in other parts of the U.S. (or the world).
www.cityharvest.org
Community resource, with community responsibility, judgement and consequence vs control by the fewest hands and greatest profit and control over others. It is far harder to educate or inspire the masses than it is to concentrate wealth and resources. The history of Western society has been to ever concentrate power to the ruin of planetary life. The exception of recent human history has been communal knowledge, environmental literacy and internal/communal responsibility. The best hope for the greatest number of people for the long term is communal or cultural responsibility. At least to my way of thinking. I've seen more cultural awareness of water conservation around the Great Lakes than I have in the southwest which seems counter intuitive. People in the Great Lakes talk about waterless urinals, low flow showers and toilets as either normal or good. In the western United States I've met more people shocked at the idea.
where is this? Does this dumpster have access? I eat to go food out of trash bins and food by Mall out of the trash to live. I live in Santa barbara homeless, I have animals so I can not go to the shelter to eat. This looks YUMMY but probally has been drizzeld with bleach to keep the hungry homeless out what a shame.
@ akshuga: you are totally right I `ve beeen told that the same happens at suppermarkets here in mexico . they rather throw away tons of food than give it to anyone. It`s not just an urban legend , it actually happens!
I used to work in a grocery store deli when I was a kid, they had an inceserate to just burn up any out-of-date product. I was supposed to throw any food left in the warmer at the end of day. I would give anyone who even glanced at the food a killer deal, just to save it from being discarded. I would have lost my job if anyone found out. I know I run a Pizza Hut @ 6 months ago the company joined what is called "The Harvest Program" where you store any extra or waste product in the freezer until the approved nonprofit comes & signs off on it. Don't get me wrong it's a company they have $$-driven reasons. Each store receives a credit based on the amount donationed. My store will easly donate (ARE YOU READY) a 100 pounds of food in a week. That not including any expired product that I will againist policy give to employees, family, or friends. So the point is if every store just donated their there would NOBODY hungry AT LEAST in the USA, if not around the world.
But the reason, some try to convince you organic won't work is simple, but a lot of Americans don't even know it is happening, but it is a huge problem GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS is a big business.
Just like with recycled paper vs. new paper, the behavior won't change until it becomes more profitable to do things differently.