Cape Town - If about 25 percent of the food lost or wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed about 870 million people around the world.
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FOA), 33 percent of food produced in the world for human consumption is either lost or wasted. This amounts to $1 trillion worth of waste.
Food wastage formed a major part of discussions at the Consumer Goods Forum, which ended at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Friday.
Dave Lewis, chief executive of British food retailer Tesco, said about 70 million meals were wasted each year in Britain, with households in North America and Europe wasting between 95kg and 115kg of food a year, whereas the figure is only about 6kg in Africa and Asia.
Lewis is spearheading a number of Tesco programmes designed to reduce the wasting of food fit for human consumption, to zero.
He called on delegates to consider making this a goal within their organisations and for industry to work together to correct the inequality of waste and excess in some parts of the world and hunger in others.
Tom Gorman, board member of Enactus and chief executive of Brambles Limited, announced the launch of a global initiative, 1 Race 2 End Waste, to reduce food loss and waste in developing and developed countries.
Enactus is an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action. Brambles is a supply-chain logistics company operating in more than 60 countries.
Gorman said food loss and waste were recognised by non-governmental organisations such as the World Bank and the FAO and by business organisations such as the Consumer Goods Forum, as critical challenges in the fight to reduce hunger, protect the environment and grow economic opportunity.
Gorman said Enactus students had a history of successful engagement on social and economic issues by working with communities to create new enterprises that served the well-being of others.
“We believe that the students will play an important role, that of reaching people who are facing the negative consequences of food loss and waste, one of the most important issues facing the planet.
According to the FAO, the 1.3 billion tons of food loss and waste negatively impacts the ability to feed a growing population and the nearly 800 million people that go hungry every day.
The University of Sao Paulo’s Vitor Vannucchi Ungari said: “Enactus students can get closest to where the problem of food loss and waste is having the most negative impact, in small communities in developing countries.”
Patrick Gichohi of Kenya’s Eldoret University added: “It is a big mission. Each year over 1.5 million people are food insecure in Kenya and the wasted and lost food is valued at 40 million Kenya shillings. It is not only a big mission, but it is critical to the future of my country.”
Nassima Belkadi of Morocco’s Mohammedia School of Engineers said: “Enactus students have successfully created projects that are scalable across countries and continents.”
CAPE ARGUS