Illinois State University - Summer 2022
German 112, Chapter 3 Report
Professor Dillon, Section 3
December 10, 2022
Skibidi, The causes of food going uneaten are numerous and occur throughout the food
system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and
consumption. (Johnson, 2020) Overall, about one-third of the world's food is thrown away.
Class Date: 15/6/2024
Teacher’s Note: Good flow, but some ideas need further development.
REPORT CONTENT:
## Analysis (List)
- A similar amount is lost on top of that by feeding human-edible food to farm animals (the
net effect wastes an estimated 1144 kcal/person/day).
- A 2021 meta-analysis, that did not include food lost during production, by the United
Nations Environment Programme found that food waste was a challenge in all countries at
all levels of economic development.
- The analysis estimated that global food waste was 931 million tonnes of food waste (about
121 kg per capita) across three sectors: 61 percent from households, 26 percent from food
service and 13 percent from retail.
- Food loss and waste is a major part of the impact of agriculture on climate change (it
amounts to 3.3 billion tons of CO2e emissions annually) and other environmental issues,
such as land use, water use and loss of biodiversity.
## Findings (List)
- Prevention of food waste is the highest priority, and when prevention is not possible, the
food waste hierarchy ranks the food waste treatment options from preferred to least
preferred based on their negative environmental impacts.
- Reuse pathways of surplus food intended for human consumption, such as food donation,
is the next best strategy after prevention, followed by animal feed, recycling of nutrients
and energy followed by the least preferred option, landfill, which is a major source of the
greenhouse gas methane.
## Background
Other considerations include unreclaimed phosphorus in food waste leading to further
phosphate mining. Moreover, reducing food waste in all parts of the food system is an
important part of reducing the environmental impact of agriculture, by reducing the total
amount of water, land, and other resources used. The UN's Sustainable Development Goal
Target 12.3 seeks to "halve global per capita food waste at the retail and consumer levels
and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses"
by 2030. Climate change mitigation strategies prominently feature reducing food waste. In
the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference nations agree to reduce food waste by
50% by the year 2030.
## Discussion
== Definition ==
Food loss and waste occurs at all stages of the food supply chain – production, processing,
sales, and consumption. Definitions of what constitutes food loss versus food waste or what
parts of foods (i.e., inedible parts) exit the food supply chain are considered lost or wasted
vary. Terms are often defined on a situational basis (as is the case more generally with
definitions of waste).
## Conclusion
Professional bodies, including international organizations, state governments, and
secretariats may use their own definitions. === United Nations ===
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defines food loss and
waste as the decrease in quantity or quality of food along the food supply chain. Within this
framework, UN Agencies distinguish loss and waste at two different stages in the process:
Food loss occurs along the food supply chain from harvest/slaughter/catch up to, but not
including, the sales level
Food waste occurs at the retail and consumption level.
## Analysis
Important components of this definition include:
Food redirected to nonfood chains (including animal feed, compost, or recovery to
bioenergy) is not counted as food loss or waste. Inedible parts are not considered as food
loss or waste (these inedible parts are sometimes referred to as unavoidable food waste)
Under Sustainable Development Goal 12, the Food and Agriculture Organization is
responsible for measuring food loss, while the UN Environmental Program measures food
waste. The 2024 UNEP Food Waste Index Report, "Think Eat Save: Tracking Progress to
Halve Global Food Waste," addresses the severe issue of food waste that accounts for US$1
trillion in losses, 8–10% of global greenhouse emissions, and the unnecessary use of 30% of
the world's agricultural land, exacerbating hunger and affecting child growth. In alignment
with SDG 12.3, the report compiles 194 data points from 93 countries to illustrate the
widespread nature of food waste, highlights the lack of disparity in waste levels across
nations of varying income levels, and underscores the leadership roles of Japan and the UK
among G20 nations in data tracking.
## Findings
It argues for a comprehensive definition of food waste, including both edible and inedible
parts, and calls for improved data collection, particularly in retail and food service sectors of
low-income countries, to enhance global efforts in halving food waste by 2030, with an
upcoming focus on public-private partnerships as a key strategy. === European Union ===
In the European Union (EU), food waste is defined by combining the definitions of food and
waste, namely: "any substance or product, whether processed, partially processed or
unprocessed, intended to be, or reasonably expected to be ingested by humans (...)"
(including things such as drinks and chewing gum; excluding things such as feed, medicine,
cosmetics, tobacco products, and narcotic or psychotropic substances) "which the holder
discards or intends or is required to discard". : 2–3
Previously, food waste was defined by directive 75/442/EEC as "any food substance, raw or
cooked, which is discarded, or intended or required to be discarded" in 1975.
References / Works Cited:
1. Wikipedia (n.d.). Retrieved from https://wikipedia.org/
2. Random Book Title (2022). Academic Publishing House.
