According to FAO, 1.3 million tons of food are wasted every year

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[:is]The FAO estimates that 1.3 million tons of food is wasted every year. Some countries are, unfortunately, more to blame than others – according to some studies, the total amount of food wasted in the US exceeds that of the UK, Italy, Sweden, France and Germany combined.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, by the year 2050 world food production must increase by 70 percent to supply the expected increase in population from 7 to 9 billion inhabitants.

Food losses and waste can occur at every link in the food chain; in the field, in the transformation industries, in the distribution phase, in school canteens and restaurants and in the homes of the consumers themselves. The causes are not always the same and vary according to the type of product, according to production, storage, transport, packaging and, lastly, bad habits or lack of concern on the part of consumers.

Food losses and waste not only represent, from a global perspective, a missed opportunity to feed a growing world population, but rather that in the current context of economic crisis, in which society is going through difficult times and due to which the number of people in a situation of social vulnerability has increased, the reduction of this food waste would be an important preliminary step to combat the hunger and improve the level of nutrition of the most disadvantaged populations.

Thus, transparency, dialogue and coordination between agents in the food chain and public administrations must be encouraged and develop, in an organized, coordinated and structured manner, common actions that contribute to a real change in the attitudes, work procedures and management systems of all the agents in the chain, which allows limiting losses and waste and reducing environmental pressures. .Due to the fact that the problem of food losses and waste affects all links in the supply chain and that numerous factors influence it, at IDEAGRO we believe that one of the greatest challenges is to achieve the participation of all sectors of society.; Only then will it be possible to reduce food losses and waste in all areas of the supply chain.

Besides, We recently championed this and other ideas in the 29th Alltech Symposium, where a few weeks ago we discussed with another 2,500 professionals from the agri-food sector the need to produce more food with fewer resources and in a scenario where there is an increasing number of limiting factors to agricultural production.

Our Technical Director, Pedro Palazón, who attended along with other representatives of Spanish companies defended that "In addition to requiring the participation of the whole of society around the problem of food waste, complementary measures should be taken, such as continuing to optimize agricultural production processes, using biological solutions to control pests and diseases, trying to achieve a longer shelf life of agri-food products and promote greater consumer education in everything related to the agri-food chain and food waste.

We would also like to highlight some initiatives that contribute to making the challenge of reducing food waste a reality:

  • Feeding the 5000 (UK / International) – Tristram Stuart's initiative is about that fruits, vegetables and other inconspicuous foods do not go to waste. It also encourages volunteer farmers to collect unattractive produce that would otherwise go to waste.

  • Think-Eat-Save (International) – This initiative, launched by the United Nations Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, works to reverse food loss and food waste by providing consumers, retailers, leaders and the community with tips and actions to take to reduce their annual food waste.

  • Food Waste Reduction Alliance Project (USA) – The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) have joined this three-year initiative to reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfills and instead donate it to food banks. They also use the waste to produce energy, compost and animal feed.

  • MERS (EU) – After acknowledging that the EU wastes an estimated 89 million tonnes of food each year, Brussels has committed, through the FUSIONS programme, to halving that number by 2025. Currently in development, they hope to address the issue throughout the supply chain, in Collaboration with farmers so that they do not reject the worst looking products. They also work with supermarkets to offer discounts to consumers on products that are nearing their expiration date.

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