The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2024 was launched lately. It revealed that the world wasted one-fifth of the overall meals obtainable in 2022. This quantities to 1.05 billion tonnes (or 19 per cent) of meals obtainable to shoppers “at the retail, food service, and household level.” At the identical time, 783 million individuals world wide endure persistent starvation and a 3rd of the world’s inhabitants faces meals insecurity. The report confirmed that households are the important thing wrongdoer in relation to general meals wastage.

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“The equivalent of at least one billion meals of edible food is being wasted in households worldwide every single day, using a very conservative assessment on the share of food waste that is edible,” states the report. In 2022, households wasted 631 million tonnes of meals, the meals service sector 290 million and the retail sector 131 million.

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The report reveals that hotter international locations appear to have the next per capita meals waste in households. The authors recommend that possible causes together with increased seasonal temperatures, excessive warmth occasions, and droughts can “make it more challenging to store, process, transport, and sell food safely”. Furthermore, the distinction in noticed common ranges of family meals waste amongst High-income, upper-middle-income, and lower-middle-income international locations is simply 7 kg/capita/12 months. The report thus highlights that “food waste is not just a ‘rich country’ problem.”

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, says, “Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions will go hungry today as food is wasted across the world,” She provides, “Not only is this a major development issue, but the impacts of such unnecessary waste are causing substantial costs to the climate and nature. The good news is we know if countries prioritise this issue, they can significantly reverse food loss and waste, reduce climate impacts and economic losses, and accelerate progress on global goals.”

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About Toshita SahniToshita is fuelled by wordplay, wanderlust, wonderment and Alliteration. When she will not be blissfully considering her subsequent meal, she enjoys studying novels and roaming across the metropolis.