The numbers are astounding.
Thirty to 40 percent of food produced in Canada is wasted somewhere along the value chain. That food is worth an estimated $27 billion per year, says a Canadian Provision Coalition report.
On average, every Canadian wastes 1.6 pounds of food every day, mostly fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood.
The cost of Canadian food waste is larger than the economic output of the poorest 29 countries in the world, according to one consulting firm report.
It is no better in the United States. A 2013 U.S. Department of Agriculture report estimated 31 percent of food was wasted there, worth $161.1 billion.
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The same report said 429 lb. of food per American was wasted based on 2010 figures, with 139 lb. lost at retail and 290 lb. at the consumer level. Vegetables, dairy products and meat were the foods most often wasted.
Rabobank published international figures on food waste last week that indicated 45 percent of fruit and vegetables in Europe are wasted.
The atrocity of food waste looms large, considering the costs of producing food and the oft-repeated warning that the planet will have to feed nine billion people by 2050.
The problem is complex because a little bit of waste at each link in the food chain contributes to the whole. Waste occurs at the farmgate, in the field, in storage, in transport, during processing, at wholesale, at retail, in restaurants and in our kitchens.
The average consumer needs look no further than the refrigerator’s fruit and vegetable crisper to find hard, or perhaps more accurately soft, data on wasted food.
Food waste reduction is a goal that everyone can reach.
Last week, this newspaper told of a “misfit” campaign that gave shoppers the chance to buy odd-looking yet safe and nutritious vegetables at a discount. It is one of several similar programs designed in part to address waste.
These promotions should cause us to speculate about the role simple cosmetic appearance plays in our food choices.
We will eat a dirt-dusted carrot from our own vegetable garden but we will reject a carrot with two legs when it’s presented at the supermarket.
It makes little sense.
And what of the waste consumers incur through confusion about “best before” dates? Many of us don’t take those words literally. Instead we throw out safe and nutritious food that is “best before,” but still good “after.”
Food safety is of course a critical issue, but it often seems to cause common sense to be supplanted by fear. Waste is the sad result.
Figures on wasted meat and dairy products are particularly troubling, given the criticism of livestock production in relation to climate change and animal welfare.
If we really want to reduce the environmental footprint of food animal production and continue to defend its necessity, surely we should start by not wasting so much meat.
Each of us can reduce food waste. It is within our power. That reduction benefits everyone, not just those who grew it or made or otherwise produced it or those who eventually bought it.
Check the crisper. Smell the milk and drink it if it’s fine, even though the best before stamp was yesterday. Don’t waste meat that is put on your plate at home or at a restaurant.
Then you will know you are making a difference in global problem.
