Household Food Waste Behavior: Avenues for Future Research

Abstract

Drawing from previous studies, this review proposes a research agenda in regard to household food waste, a neglected topic within the field of consumer behavior. This phenomenon has remarkable social and environmental relevance when one considers that it occurs at the end of the food chain, and thus, wastage at this stage implies losses of resources required for food production. This study aims to provide a framework and solutions for conducting future research in this area. Academic opportunities identified suggest that further theorizing is needed related to consumer food waste, in addition to studies aimed at testing the impact of communication initiatives on behavioral change and at providing a standardized methodology to measure consumer food waste.

Food waste matters - A systematic review of household food waste practices and their policy implications

“…Ganglbauer et al (2013), in their qualitative study in Austria, have observed that self-grown and harvested food is less likely to be thrown away because people are more aware of the time and effort that was put into producing it. Alternative food provisioning schemes, such as community-supported agriculture (CSA) might produce even more food waste because consumers are provided with large amounts of greens and vegetables that they may not like or not know how to prepare (Porpino, 2016).…”

Food for naught: Using the theory of planned behaviour to better understand household food wasting behaviour

“…For instance, many households inadequately plan meals (with regard to food provisioning) and grocery shopping (BIO Intelligence Service 2011;WRAP 2011;BCFN 2012;Romani et al 2018). This poor planning can lead to the over-purchase, over-preparation, and over-serving of food (Munro and Marshall 1995;Pearson et al 2013;WRAP 2014;Porpino 2016). At the retail level, households can inadvertently purchase packages containing too much food (so that some of it spoils) or from which it is difficult to extract food, ultimately leading to food waste generation (WRAP 2007b;Bolton 2012;Halloran et al 2014;G€ obel et al 2015).…”

“…Further, after food purchase, not knowing how and where (e.g., counter, fridge, freezer) to store food can lead to its premature spoilage and wastage (G€ obel et al 2015;Jorissen et al 2015;Principato et al 2015). Finally, some people have particular dietary habits that result in food waste, such as aversion to leftovers, intolerances for certain elements of a The Canadian Geographer / Le G eographe canadien 2019, xx(xx): 1-16 2 Paul van der Werf, Jamie A. Seabrook, and Jason A. Gilliland 479 Better understanding household food wasting behaviour set meal, or, as is often the case for children, general fussiness (Evans 2012;Neff 2015;Porpino 2016).…”

“…If consumers do not understand the meaning of food labels such as "best before" and "use by" dates, they tend to err on the side of caution, throwing away food before it is unsafe to eat (Pearson et al 2013;Aschemann-Witzel et al 2015). Consumers can be overly sensitive to high health-risk foods, such as fresh meats, and they often discard them before their "use by" date (Evans 2011;FUSIONS 2014;Porpino 2016).…”

Food losses and waste: how Brazil is facing this global challenge?

“…It is likely that individual analysis in each of the countries in the region would give a clearer picture of food waste, given the socioeconomic and cultural differences among countries. These FAO data and empirical evidence from recent studies change the idea that consumer food waste is a threat only to developed nations (Porpino et al, 2015(Porpino et al, , 2016.…”