The social cost of food waste: an unbearable situation
What a paradox, while 820 million people suffer from chronic hunger globally, millions of tons of food are wasted.
This article highlights the social consequences of food waste, a subject we exposed in our white paper “How Retail Executives can close the food waste gap?”.
In this article, we focus on the impact of food waste on humans..
The cost of food waste is not only paid for by nature, but also by people
Lack of access to food, inability to cope with food inflation: according to the FAO, about 820 million people suffer from chronic hunger globally, while 2 billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies.
The cruel irony is that while millions of people are starving, a vast amount of food is wasted each year. Indeed, lost and wasted food, mainly in developed countries, represent a missed opportunity to feed the growing world population.
This coexistence of food waste, starvation and malnutrition in our planet is one of the greatest paradoxes of our time.
A food insecurity rising while we waste
At European level, according to the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture, up to 50% of edible and harmless food is unnecessarily depreciated and thrown away in homes, supermarkets and along the entire food chain every year.
Food loss and waste also have a negative impact on food security and availability and contribute to higher food prices and speculation, finally impacting the economy.
A food problem also accelerating the obesity phenomenon
In developed countries, people face a very different problem compared to starvation. But it’s also becoming a health issue. Indeed, in the face of soaring prices, people have to adjust their eating habits. Less quality, sugar added food, fats and oil… This type of nutrition accelerates the obesity phenomenon.
What if, instead, we wasted less and offered ugly but still nutritious food that is usually thrown away?
Would you like to find out more about the impact of food waste on the social sphere?
Contact one of our experts!
