Securing food for growing populations while minimizing environmental externalities is becoming a key topic in the current sustainability debate. This is particularly true in the Mediterranean region, which is characterized by scarce natural resources and increasing climate-related impacts. This paper focuses on the pressure Mediterranean people place on the Earth ecosystems because of their food consumption and sourcing patterns and then explores ways in which such pressure can be reduced. To do so, it uses an Ecological-Footprint-Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output (EF-MRIO) approach applied to 15 Mediterranean countries. Results indicate that food consumption is a substantial driver of the region's ecological deficit, whereby demand for renewable resources and ecosystems services outpaces the capacity of its ecosystems to provide them. Portugal, Malta and Greece are found to have the highest per capita food Footprints (1.50, 1.25 and 1.22 global hectares (gha), respectively), while Slovenia, Egypt and Israel have the lowest (0.63, 0.64 and 0.79gha, respectively). With the exception of France, all Mediterranean countries rely on the biocapacity of foreign countries to satisfy their residents' demand for food. By analyzing the effect of shifting to a calorie-adequate diet or changing dietary patterns, we finally point out that the region's Ecological Footprint - and therefore its ecological deficit - could be reduced by 8% to 10%.

Food waste (FW) is seen as an obstacle to achieving food and nutrition security and food systems sustainability. It is known in literature that households are significant contributors to the total amount of FW. This paper reports on results of an online survey that was conducted from February to April 2015 with a random sample of 281 Tunisian adults. The aim of the survey is to assess the knowledge and relative importance of FW; attitudes towards FW; impacts of behaviors regarding food and food management; quantity and value of FW; as well as barriers and willingness to behavioral change. The sample was not gender-balanced (71.2% female and 28.8% male). The majority of the respondents was young (70.8% aged between 18 and 34 years) and has high education level (95.4% having university and PhD degrees). Food waste is prevalent in Tunisia as about the half of respondents declare that they throw food. The most wasted food products are fruits, vegetables, and cereals and bakery products. Only 42.7% of respondents declared that the economic value of food waste generated each month is more than 6US$. Most of Tunisian respondents have a good understanding of food labels that is probably due to the high education level of the sample. About 37% of respondents throw weekly at least 250 g of still consumable food. To reduce FW in Tunisia it is important to set a strategy at all food chain levels. There is also an urgent need to raise people's and organizations awareness towards this problem. This article provides a basis for the development of other more context specific investigations and interventions for the prevention of household FW in Tunisia.

Food losses and waste (FLW) is a phenomenon that has been underestimated, littlestudied and poorly documented in the Mediterranean countries. Actually, nopolicies, laws, strategies and action plans have been implemented to reduce FLWin Algeria. This exploratory study aims to evaluate household FW in Algeria. Anonline survey with 323 Algerian households was conducted in February-April 2015to assess the knowledge and relative importance of FW; attitudes towards FW;impacts of behaviors regarding food and food management; FW quantity andvalue; as well as barriers and willingness to behavioral change. Sample is genderbalanced(54% female and 46% male) and rather young (93% are less than 44 yearsold) while most of respondents have high education level. Results show thathousehold planning and shopping activities are significant forecasters of FW.Attitudes may change according to periods especially in Ramadan (88% ofrespondents declare that FW increase during this month) and to the category offood (most wasted product groups are fruits and vegetables, cereals and bakeryproducts). Most of the respondents have a good understanding of “use by” fooddate label while they still confuse the meaning of “best before”. It seems that FW iswidespread in Algeria as only 1% of respondents declare that they do not waste anyfood. About 15% declare that their households throw away at least 250 g of stillconsumable food each week. Even though Algeria is considered as a developingcountry, an important part of food wastage occurs at consumer level as in high andmiddle income countries. In order to reduce food waste, efforts should be directedtowards providing consumers with skills and tools to deal with their food-relatedactivities and to better consider the impact of food waste on the environment andeconomy.

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