Food waste
Credit: foodtank
A recent brief released by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition addresses two huge contributors to poor diet—food loss and food waste. Poor diets have been linked to 20 percent of deaths globally according to the World Health Organization. Because of high levels of food loss and waste—especially of nutrient-rich, perishable foods—as many as three billion people are consuming low-quality diets that result in micronutrient malnutrition as well as rising levels of obesity. The Global Panel, an independent, international group of leaders from around the world, is committed to making safe, high-quality, healthy diets affordable and accessible to people around the world.
Food loss in the supply chain limits the availability of nutritious foods to consumers—as well as increases the costs of the produce that finally gets to market—creating significant public health risks. Reducing food waste—especially in retail establishments and consumers’ own homes—can also increase availability of nutritious foods. With a host of illnesses and diseases linked to poor diets, access to nutritious food is […]
One of the many things important to the problem is composting at the macro level and the micro level. Restaurants and food distributors are the Macro Level which can contribute much to the composting facilities in their areas to increase the good compost which can be used to fertilize new food production. Families that grow their own food, like Stephan and myself, can compost any left over scraps of food at the Micro Level to improve our own local food production, which I am sure we both do. If all food leftovers are used in this manner, a much more equitable solution could overcome some of the problems of malnutrition.