A Problem of Food Wastage - Case Study Example

Jui Chang EWRT 2 De Anza College 6/10 Food Waste: A Serious Problem in the Face of a Starving World Just how much food is produced in the worldtoday?.In the recent times, food production has increased greatly due to advancement of technology but due to poor distribution, many people are still starving. This makes people with more food to waste it while people in the developing world starve to death. While this is the case, a volume of food that can feed millions of people annually is wasted. This causes concern among private and public organizations as well as individuals who wish not to see people starve while others fill incinerators and landfills with food. Technology has seen humans solve many of the problems that the world has been facing for a long time, from food shortage, to curing contagious diseases, to name but a few. Interestingly, as one problem is solved, a myriad of others are created; with the production and consumption of more food has come a problem of food wastage. Research work has proved that about one-third of the food produced for people’s consumption is wasted or lost. This represents a missed opportunity to better global food security. Food wastage takes place in during production and the transmission channels. According to Stuart, Total food wastage is about 1.6 Giga tonnes for primary food products and 1.3 Giga tonnes for edible part of food. This is a lot of wastage given that total global agricultural food production is estimated to be about 6 Gtonnes” (Stuart 3). Most of this food is wasted during harvesting, storage and transportation phases. United States is one of the nations that waste a lot of food in the world. Out of the total food produced, 34 million tons go to waste annually(Stuart 6). About 97% of this food waste ends up in incinerators and Landfills. Total food waste in United States is approximated at 14% of the total American Municipal solid waste. Since 1974, food waste in the United States has increased by about 50% and it has now exceeded 1, 400 kcal per person per day according to Stuart (6). This food wasted has been estimated to have a monetary value running into billions of U.S. dollars annually. Households in America have also been very wasteful whereby 25% of the food that is brought in each household goes to waste. There is enormous food waste at the retail level. While about one-third of the food produced globally goes to waste, 40 percent of the food produced in United States goes to waste. A large portion of this waste is caused by consumers. About 25 million Americans can be fully fed if this waste is reduced by 15 percent (Stuart 7). Going by the statistics, it is beyond doubt that a lot of food goes to waste in the U.S. If this wastage can be reduced, many people can benefit from the amount that is saved. The problem of food wastage is not an American problem; it is a problem that faces many nations. China is another global power which faces serious problem of food wastage even as its urban populations, household incomes and total food consumption continues to rise. Currently, Chinese food products weighing up to 60 million tons and worth about 200 billion Yuan’s (US$32 billion) goes to waste annually(“International Business Times” 1). Despite this, “128 million Chinese lack sufficient food… and majority of them live below the poverty line (“International Business Times” 1). The largest portion of Chinesewastes which is estimated to be 70 percent and about 61 percent of the wastes at household level goes to waste. Research has established that restaurantsthrow edible food which is equal to about 10 percent off the countries annual agricultural production. This is taken to be enough food to feed about 200 million people or 15 percent of China’s population (“International Business Times”2). Even with this huge lose of food; China is rated among the countries that waste the least food. It loses about 20% of the food produced which is “lower than the average global wastage of about 33 percent” (Chauhan 2). This is so because Chinese tradition requires people to be economical with food although in some special occasions, food consumption and wastage increases. What this means is that even the most economical of societies still faces the problem of food wastage. In terms of human population, the United States of America, China, and India some of the most populated countries which also means the amount of food they waste could be higher than most other countries. India is one of the highly growing developing nations. It has taken numerous strides in infrastructure development but food loss makes it struggle. Each year, India loses about 40 percent of its food products due to poor storage facilities, poor road systems and faulty electricity (Chauhan 1). This waste comprises more vegetable and fruits consumed by United Kingdom and more grain that what Australia produces. Even though storage and transport facilities are poor, poor management of Food Corporation of India is also to blame for poor handling of food products due to high levels of corruption.India remains to be one of the largest producers of vegetable and fruits but one-third of its produce rots due to poor storage facilities, transport systems and distribution channels. This makes her to be not among the significant exporters of fruits and vegetables. In addition, lose of products results to inflation of food prices in the country. India imports much grain from other countries in order to cater for the high food demand by her population while she loses about 21 million tons of wheat annually. This means that food problems in India cause other related problems such as hunger, pollution and inflation. Food losses in India can be attributed to both poor government policies and India. Weddings, social and family functions, hotels, canteens and households waste a lot of food which could otherwise be used to feed starving population. Some activists have been able to collect leftovers and feed 10,000 people each day during wedding feasts in India. Since 2010, DrAgrawal’s agency, which works against food wastage, collects a lot of food remains in wedding, and other religious and social events. Each day, about 1,000 people are fed from collected food and this number multiplies in wedding seasons. These statistics hint to the relatively higher amounts of food that go to waste during festive seasons or special occasions. The three countries discussed about above are not the only who wastes food. Every country wastes food in the farm, storage and transportation, processing retail stores, wholesale stores and by the consumer. The world struggles to feed its population and the condition is expected to worsen when the world’s population hits 9-10 billion in 2050. Food wastes not only make the world unable to feed its growing population but also contribute to a large percentage of Carbon dioxide emitted annually as noted in "UN: Greenhouse gas fuelled by food waste" (1). In order to feed the increasing population, 70 percent more food will be needed and therefore it is the duty of the global society to look for means of saving food for future uses. The developing countries should also be encouraged to put in place effective storage facilities and transport systems so as to ensure that very little food products go to waste ("UN: Greenhouse gas fuelled by food waste" 2). Both the developing and developed countries should endure to reduce food wastage that occurs at different point in the food chain. Food waste occurs in all parts of food chain including production, handling and consumption. Food wastes can be categorized into agricultural waste and wastes due to bad habits and merchants. Agricultural waste includes natural and non-natural wastes. This waste is produced in various farm activities. These farm activities include horticulture, dairy farming, grazing land, livestock breeding, market gardens, nursery plots, seed growing, and woodlands among other related wastes (EPA 14). These wastes constitute a very large proportion of the total global agricultural productivity. These activities and other may be classified among areas that are not fully productive. If these land portions are used for crop production, they can definitely raise the amount of food produced annually. Uses indicated above makes sure that food is not use as productively as it is expect for the land to hit its maximum productivity. Animal agriculture produces the larger agricultural waste. This consequently produces bad effects to crops, soil and ground waters (EPA 4). Some food crops are also used to feed animals and therefore it is counted as a waste. All food crops grown are expected to be harvested so as to produce expected food products. Also during the cultivation process, some plants and crops are subjected to pests and severe weather conditions that declare it a waste (EPA 7). This can only be done away with if favorable weather conditions are ensured and proper chemicals are used to keep pests and other destructive insects away. Modern technology has made it possible to engineer crops so as to produce hybrid crops which have high yield and are resistant to destructive insects. In developing nations where pests and other insects are destructive, these engineered crops can be used for increased productivity. These crops are also resistant to adverse weather conditions and therefore when used could increase agricultural productivity in arid and semi-arid areas of the world. Some machines used in the harvesting processes are very wasteful. This is because their means of collecting produce from fields are not perfects. Most of the grains which are harvested by use of machines are wasted because these machines allow some to spill away. If the machines pick crops from the certain height, all others are left in the fields especially those have not reach target height or those which are bending (Cross 12). Crops do not ripe at once, during machine harvesting some immature crops are destroyed by the machines and consequently result to wastes. Regulations and standards set make farmers to harvest selectively so as to meet the set standards or appearance. Food products left out in this selection processes are discarded and consequently used as fertilized or as animal feed. These processes leave much of the food products to go to waste and consequently contribute a large portion of the 30 percent of the food that goes to waste. In as much as regulations contribute to food wastage, bad habits emerge as a main cause of food wastage in many societies across the world. Social and religious events are the leading in terms of causing food waste all over the world. People from various corners of the world have bad habits such as cooking or ordering more food than they can actually consume. Various hotels and restaurants are left with a lot of leftovers which they have no choice but throw it into landfills of into incinerators(James 38). This happens because people do not order what they can fully eat. They end up eating a small fraction and leave the rest for the hotel workers to handle. Rarely do these people carry their leftovers to their homes and place them in their fridges for preservation (Self 60). This is because they feel inconvenienced to carry food remains in their hand bags. Also, in the event where people carry leftover and keep them in their fridges, they end up getting spoilt. This is because people are always in need of fresh food which they can prepare and eat while there is still leftover kept in their fridges (Self 60). At the end it is thrown away. Some people have no fridges or microwaves to preserve leftovers. Incase all the cooked food is not eaten completely, it is left in conditions that cannot preserve it and consequently it is spoilt. This condition has been witnessed in institutions where students have no facilities to preserve food remains. Further bad habits have been witnessed in social and religious functions. Wedding ceremonies leave much food as a waste. This is because a lot of food is cooked with few people to consume it. In India, 10 to 20 percent of the food cooked in wedding ceremonies goes to waste (Unilever Study 23). For instance, DrVivekAgrawal managed to feed about 10,000 people from food remains collected from 16 different wedding ceremonies in Jaipur. Organizers of wedding ceremonies prepare many different meals for people to choose. This has increased the quantity of food wasted in weddings all over the world. It means that food wasted in wedding ceremonies can be feed millions of people over the world. These food remains are not given to people in need of food but they are thrown away. This has been the case with religious activities such as pilgrimage and retreats. Clean Plate Initiative which is an organization fighting against food wastage in China has reported enormous food wastage during Chinese Spring Festival. This occasion is known to prepare the biggest feast of the year. This means that some popular occasions organized across the world cause bad habits which causes enormous food wastage. People need to do exact calculations based on the number of people to be served with food before its preparation (Unilever Study 23). This will help to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste. In other words, during festive and non-festive seasons and occasions, people should endeavor to avoid food wastage by preparing only the quantity that is enough for consumption. Do we really care about our neighbors? Merchants throw away much of their food products when they are about to hit their expiry instead of being to needy people. With a lot of food products which exceed people’s demand, most of them reach their expiry dates while still at the shelves (Cross 12). Some merchants are able to keep grains in their stores waiting for high prices in market so as to sell and make a kill. If the price does not rise, the grains remain in stores and eventually they are destroyed by destructive insects. This is a common practice in the third world nations. The worst affected food products are those with short life span. This should not happen in the society where people are morally upright. For this reason, such food products should be given to people in dire need of food so as to reduce wastage. While some analysts feel that food wastage is a problem, some feel that wastage of food is a good sign – it is a sign that people have had food to their fill. Furthermore, some note that wasted food does not in fact go to water – it goes a long way in feeding other organisms survive and, therefore, contributes to the maintenance of ecosystems. While this may be the case, it is only logical that people avoid food wastage so that less people suffer starvation. The world has vast resources and no one should starve while others have more than enough. Food waste has increased with the increase in population. This quite evident even at the community or village level. This is because every restaurant, hotel, ceremonial and well established household throws some leftovers away (Kevin 2). This has led to emergence of many organizations that are concerned by with people sleeping hungry while others through large amount of food. These organizations include: Zero percent, Lean path, feeding the 5000, and Second helpings among others. Zero percent is an organization based in Chicago in United States. Its major aim is to reduce food wastage through connecting companies which produce leftovers with groups that need it. The organization has established online communication channels to enable people in businesses that have produced surplus food to offer donation. Volunteers in the nearby soup shelters and kitchens are alerted automatically through short message services and consequently pick the donation (James 39). This organization also helps businesses who offer donation to manage their food based on daily data analysis. Lean Path in an organization based in both United Kingdom and United States. It helps foodservice industry to reduce pre-consumer food waste. It employs a food waste tracking system called state-of-the-art. This system helps managers and chefs to understand their waste before their products hit the table. The system takes the pictures of the food and record critical information which is used by the cutting edge technology to process data which is automatically transmitted to the managers via online bases. Managers use this information to manage and control food waste. The organization also creates educative materials on food waste management. Another organization that is dedicated to solving the problem of food wastage is Feeding the 5000. Feeding the 5000 is a campaign that is conducted worldwide. It is aimed at empowering and inspiring global community to create positive solution towards global food waste. The flagship event of this campaign sees 5000 members of the public eat free lunch made from ingredients which otherwise could have been gone to waste(Kevin 5). Its origin dates back to 2009 and from since it has seen many tens of thousands of meals served all over the world. This campaign has helped to save thousands of tons of fresh vegetables and fruits and directs the produce towards people who need it the most. Second Helpings is an organization based in United States of America. It helps to save unwanted food in wholesalers, retailers and restaurants by making sure that it is channeled to the people with no food (Cross 12). Volunteers and staff of this organization rescue excess food before it is taken to incinerators and landfills and they convert it into nutritious food products which are then distributed to social service organizations. This organization also trains unemployed people on culinary skills which prepare them for a career in catering. Clean Plate Initiative is an organization based in China. It encourages people to prepare only what they can eat completely without leftovers. It also serves to collect excess food from restaurants and from other occasions that lead to production of excess food and take it to people who lack food (Kevin 5). Dr Agrawal’s agency is based in India and it serves to collect food surplus from wedding activities, and other social gatherings to feed the poor. This and other agencies play a great role in helping the poor by making use of people’s excesses. It is clear that the world cannot sustain its increasing population with food. This is however not created by poor food production but by enormous wastage. The fact that one-third of the food produced worldwide complicates global food situation. Foot wastage in developed nation is due to people having more food that they need while in developing nations food is wasted due to poor facilities. Developing countries have no effective storage facilities in addition to their poor transport system. This makes it hard for food products to reach places where they are needed most. Many people continue to suffer due to lack of food and therefore various organizations have come in to help the needy. They have been able to convey leftovers to people who do not have food. They have also helped those who prepare excess food to manage it so that they can prepare what they can utilize. It is the duty of every person in the global community to join hand so as to make sure that food is not wasted. This will help to raise enough food to feed the global population and enable us to plan for future generations. Workscited Chauhan, Chetan. "India wastes more farm food than China: UN." Hindustan Times12 Sept. 2013: Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 5 June 2014. Cross, Miriam. "Stop Wasting Food And Money." Kiplingers Personal Finance 68.2 (2014): 12. Business Source Elite. Web. 5 June 2014. Fireovid, Robert L. "Wasted Food: What We Are Doing To Prevent Costly Losses." Agricultural Research 61.3 (2013): 2. Business Source Elite. Web. 5 June 2014. 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