Lost food, wasted resources: Global food supply chain losses and their impacts on freshwater, cropland, and fertiliser use

Kummu, Matti; Moel, de H.; Porkka, Miina; Siebert, Stefan; Varis, Olli; Ward, Philip J.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.08.092

Cited by 953 publications

(659 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Valuable resources might be recovered at various stages of the food supply chain [64], and there are suggestions of how to tackle food waste at each of these stages [65,66]. Overall, however, it is argued that it is more important to prevent than to recycle food waste [67].…”

Section: Consumer-related Factors Discussed In Recent Food Waste Revimentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action

Aschemann‐Witzel

Hooge

Amani³

et al. 2015

Sustainability

611

465

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Abstract:In the past decade, food waste has received increased attention on both academic and societal levels. As a cause of negative economic, environmental and social effects, food waste is considered to be one of the sustainability issues that needs to be addressed. In developed countries, consumers are one of the biggest sources of food waste. To successfully reduce consumer-related food waste, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the factors influencing food waste-related consumer perceptions and behaviors. The present paper presents the results of a literature review and expert interviews on factors causing consumer-related food waste in households and supply chains. Results show that consumers' motivation to avoid food waste, their management skills of food provisioning and food handling and their trade-offs between priorities have an extensive influence on their food waste behaviors. We identify actions that governments, societal stakeholders and retailers can undertake to reduce consumer-related food waste, highlighting that synergistic actions between all parties are most promising. Further research should focus on exploring specific food waste contexts and interactions more in-depth. Experiments and interventions in particular can contribute to a shift from analysis to solutions. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 6458

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Section: Consumer-related Factors Discussed In Recent Food Waste Revimentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action

Aschemann‐Witzel

Hooge

Amani³

et al. 2015

Sustainability

611

465

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“…With best management practices and region-specific global food supply, losses could be halved (Kummu et al 2012). …”

Section: Feeding the Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic Agriculture 3.0 is innovation with research

Rahmann¹,

Ardakani

Bàrberi

et al. 2016

Org. Agr.

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“…[3][4][5][6] As described in a recent report from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, nutrition and dietetics practitioners have an important role to play in addressing this waste while advancing nutrition, such as promoting consumer behavior change through nutrition education. 7 In this article, "nutrient loss" refers to the nutrient content embedded within food loss and waste.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wasted Food, Wasted Nutrients: Nutrient Loss from Wasted Food in the United States and Comparison to Gaps in Dietary Intake

Spiker¹,

Hiza²,

Siddiqi³

et al. 2017

Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

106

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Background Previous research has estimated that wasted food in the United States contains between 1,249 and 1,400 kcal per capita per day, but little is known about amounts of other nutrients embedded in the 31% to 40% of food that is wasted.Objective This research aimed to calculate the nutritional value of food wasted at the retail and consumer levels in the US food supply, and contextualize the amount of nutrient loss in terms of gaps between current and recommended intakes and estimated food recovery potential.Design Data from the National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference were used to calculate the nutritional value of retail-and consumer-level waste of 213 commodities in the US Department of Agriculture Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data series for 27 nutrients in 2012.Results Food wasted at the retail and consumer levels of the US food supply in 2012 contained 1,217 kcal, 33 g protein, 5.9 g dietary fiber, 1.7 mg vitamin D, 286 mg calcium, and 880 mg potassium per capita per day. Using dietary fiber as an example, 5.9 g dietary fiber is 23% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for women. This is equivalent to the fiber Recommended Dietary Allowance for 74 million adult women. Adult women in 2012 underconsumed dietary fiber by 8.9 g/day, and the amount of wasted fiber is equivalent to this gap for 206.6 million adult women.Conclusions This was the first study to document the loss of nutrients from wasted food in the US food supply, to our knowledge. Although only a portion of discarded food can realistically be made available for human consumption, efforts to redistribute surplus foods where appropriate and prevent food waste in the first place could increase the availability of nutrients for Americans, while saving money and natural resources.J Acad Nutr Diet. 2017;117:1031-1040 I N THE UNITED STATES, BETWEEN 31% AND 40% OF THE food supply is wasted before it reaches consumers. 1,2 Policies and interventions to reduce waste and redirect surplus food can reduce food costs, benefit the environment, and improve food security. [3][4][5][6] As described in a recent report from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, nutrition and dietetics practitioners have an important role to play in addressing this waste while advancing nutrition, such as promoting consumer behavior change through nutrition education. 7 In this article, "nutrient loss" refers to the nutrient content embedded within food loss and waste. Although the terms "food loss," "food waste" and "wasted food" are sometimes used interchangeably, in this article "wasted food" is primarily used.* Tracking Caloric and Nutrient LossesMost research efforts to quantify wasted food have focused on food weight or economic value, or on waste as a proportion of available food by supply chain level. [8][9][10][11] The few studies examining nutritional value have focused primarily on calories. For example, Buzby and colleagues 1 linked US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data with underlying loss assumptions, estimating that retail-and consumer-l...

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Lost food, wasted resources: Global food supply chain losses and their impacts on freshwater, cropland, and fertiliser use

Cited by 953 publications

References 37 publications

Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action

Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action

Organic Agriculture 3.0 is innovation with research

Wasted Food, Wasted Nutrients: Nutrient Loss from Wasted Food in the United States and Comparison to Gaps in Dietary Intake

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