The Economic and Environmental Catastrophe of Food Waste and How It Can Be Mitigated

Abstract

Food waste occurs all along the supply chain and amounts to over a billion tons per year worldwide. This loss represents inefficient processing and negligent attitudes towards conservation and providing for those in need. It is such a serious problem thatwe need to evaluate every step of the supply chain to determine how improvements can be made. This paper has identified three factors that can be addressed to make substantial reductions in food waste. Manufacturers need to harness new technologies so that forecasting demand is more accurate. Improved forecasts will result in more accurate supply management and less waste. Second, quality control needs to be reassessed to ensure products that are rejected due to cosmetic reasons are still made available for those in need. Third, consumers need to be provided with understandable expiry dates, and educated on the problems of food waste so that they can make an informed decision on selecting and storing food.