The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has unveiled a comprehensive platform to aid global reduction of food loss and waste. This comes as the UN agency and partners call for increased efforts and gear up for the first International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on September 29. The organization spotlights innovations toward this ambition, including novel technologies such as solar-powered cooling technology for chilling milk, among others.

Under the event, the “Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste” online platform will bring together information on successful models applied to reduce food loss and waste across the globe. 

“Wasting food means wasting scarce natural resources, increasing climate change impacts and missing the opportunity to feed a growing population in the future,” says FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu at the launch of the platform.

The FAO stresses that the onset and spread of COVID-19 have further exposed the vulnerabilities of current food systems and the need for resilience. As FoodIngredientsFirst previously reported, stockpiles of potatoes, fruit and vegetables, and milk were built up, which further exacerbated these issues.

“Food loss and waste is a sign of food systems in distress,” says Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director of The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), while pointing out that “nutritious foods are the most perishable, and hence, the most vulnerable to loss. Not only food is being lost but also food safety and nutrition are being lost as well.”

Director-General Qu and partners are calling for applying innovation, both technological and operational, for instance: finding technological solutions for post-harvest management; better food packaging, including relaxing regulations and standards on aesthetic requirements for fruit and vegetables; better consumption habits; government policies aimed at lowering food wastage like guidelines to redistribute safe surplus food to those in need through food banks; and building alliances, including outside of the food sector, such as with climate actors.

Technological innovations can also tackle undesirable environmental impact while saving food. In Kenya and Tanzania, for example, solar-powered cooling technology for chilling milk – through a project supported by FAO and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) – helped prevent milk losses without creating any additional greenhouse gas emissions. The same technology saves three million liters of water per year in Tunisia.

Gateway to food loss awareness
The platform, funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation, is as a “gateway to all FAO food loss and waste resources,” including a comprehensive online data collection on wher food is lost and wasted; a discussion forum on food loss reduction; examples of successful initiatives; e-learning courses; food loss and waste policy briefings in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; and tips on what individuals can do to reduce food waste.

“Addressing food loss and waste with accurate information and evidence at the country level is an attempt to create a food system that delivers on planetary health and human health,” says Geeta Sethi, Advisor and Global Lead for Food Systems at the World Bank. “But to know what is a policy priority for a country, and therefore investments and interventions that are needed, requires good data and evidence.”

FAO believes that interventions like informing the public to reduce food waste, investing in supply chain infrastructure, training of farmers in best practices and reforming food subsidies that unintentionally lead to more food losses, as well as waste are a bargain compared to other measures.

Food loss and waste explained
Food is lost when it is spoilt or spilled before reaching the final product or retail stage. For example, dairy, meat, and fish can deteriorate in transit because of inadequate refrigerated transport and cold storage facilities.

FAO estimates that 14 percent of food is lost this way, valued at US$400 billion annually. In terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the food that is lost is associated with around 1.5 Gt of CO2 equivalent.

Losses are higher in developing countries, for example, 14 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa and 20.7 percent in Southern Asia and Central Asia, while in developed countries, for example, Australia and New Zealand, they average at about 5.8 percent. Major losses are in roots tubers and oil-bearing crops (25 percent), fruits and vegetables (22 percent) and meat and animal products (12 percent).

Food is wasted when it is discarded by consumers or is disposed of in retail owing to its inability to meet stringent quality standards, or quite often due to a misunderstanding of the date marking on the product. 

“Food waste measurement is a complex issue. We know, however, that food that never gets eaten represents a waste of resources, such as labor, land, water, soil and seeds, and it increases greenhouse gas emissions in vain,” concludes the FAO.