Simple tips to avoid food waste in India to save environment

Simple tips to avoid
food waste in India to save environment

(http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/160863-Eat-food.-Avoid-waste.-Reduce-food-print.-Save-environment.aspx)                      (07.10.2013)
Are you aware that
the food we waste has been the second largest constituent of
industrial/commercial waste? Do you know dumping your leftovers into the bin
leads right away to climate change? If not, this article makes you understand
the importance to avoid food waste, reduce food-print and save environment.
The author also aims at penning down some tips to avoid food waste in India.

With the World Environment Day being
celebrated on June 5th, the United Nations is to focus its attention globally
on the serious issue of food waste and its impact on environment.
“Think. Eat. Save. Reduce your food-print” is the universal
campaign against food waste supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This is the logo
designed not only to reduce the food waste prints on this wonderful universe
but primarily to safeguard the environment from greenhouse gas emissions. The
UN Environment Program acclaims that every year more than a billion ton of
food is wasted either through the whole process of food production and
procurement or by the retail/hospitality industry and consumers as well. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization reinforces that food waste
is not sensible on ethical, economical, and environmental grounds in a
seven-billion populated world. It is further estimated that at least one in
every seven people in the world survive without food and over 20,000 kids
under the age group of five die from hunger everyday. Above all, the food
waste thrown to the landfills cause greenhouse gas emissions and climate
change effecting the environment drastically. Presumptive of this rising
imbalance in the lifestyle and the devastating impact on the environment,
this campaign is organized to make the people aware of the need at present.
To reduce the carbon food-print on the atmosphere and to save money as well,
more efficient process of food production and consumption by the household,
retail, and hospitality sector is the priority at this point.

Understanding food waste/food loss

Food waste/food loss refers to the food that has been thrown away or that
could not be used. Food waste may be due to various reasons and occurs at
different levels of food production, processing and retailing/consumption.
About 1/3 of the world foodproduction, i.e., 1.3 billion tons of food has been
wasted every year as of the year 2011 report by the UNFAO. In the developing
countries, most of the loss has been due to insufficient storage facilities
and improper distribution. While in developed regions, it has been wasted at
the consumption or retailing stage. It depends on the behavior of
consumers/retailers, in other words, uneaten food or thrown-away food. Food
loss may also be referred to the loss of edible food meant for human
consumption that has occurred at the stages of production, post-harvest and
processing. Yet this can be converted as a fuel or can be used for animal
feeding.

Categories of food waste

While we talk about food waste rather a serious issue at this time we need to
explore types of food waste. In general, there have been two main categories
of food waste namely avoidable and unavoidable. From commercial point of
view, avoidable food waste may include damaged/rotten/expired food stock or
produce that has not been used prior to retailing or sold-out. This may occur
due to overproduction, erratic serving sizes, poor quality, etc. This type of
food waste would have been avoided by careful planning and better amenities.
Unavoidable food waste includes the food that cannot be eaten or sold out.
For example, waste from poultry, fish bones, fat and skin, shellfish/egg
shells, tea bags and coffee grounds, fruit/vegetable peels, pips and stones
come under this unavoidable category. But these can be used for composting to be used as organic fertilizers rather than just to be dumped into the
bins.

Food waste can also be categorized as pre-consumer and post-consumer. The
waste brought forth at various stages from production up to the point to the
market or being served at eateries or restaurants has been assumed as
pre-consumer food waste. It can be generated as a result of excessive
production, damage or contamination, surpassing the expiry date, or due to
lesser demand of the food in the retail/wholesale sector. Post-consumer food
waste being the thrown away after procured by the consumer consists of waste
from restaurants, cafes, pubs, and any kind of food bought from retailers
such as bakery, supermarket, deli, fruit shops, etc. The food waste from
social gatherings, wedding/official parties belongs to this post-consumer
food waste category.

Impacts of food waste on environment

Food waste impacts our environment in several ways. It is evident that what
we buy in the supermarket and what we make in our kitchen daily does have an
effect on the atmosphere we are exposed to.

Climate change/global warming
Food waste from households as well as commercial/industrial sector has been
disposed to landfills. Breaking down of the food waste dumped into the
landfill results in the emission of methane, which has been a greenhouse gas.
Methane is said to be 25 times more powerful than the carbon dioxide.
Emissions attributing to the energy applied on transport, food production,
processing and distribution, etc., also add to the climate change. Natural
resources have been utilized especially water to a great extent, for
harvesting, transportation, packing, and distribution. Thus food waste leads
to drain of resources and energy as well impacting the ecology as a whole.
Excessive GHG emission into the atmosphere contributes to climate change and global warming.

Pollution
When food waste is dumped into a landfill it emits excessive nutrients. These
unwanted chemical substances can cause pollution affecting the nearby
waterways and the ground water gets contaminated.

Food production/supply chain
Food production/supply chain does have a significant impact on our
environment. Natural resources, water, soils, and energy are the main
constituents involved in the food production and supply chain from paddock to
our plates. This process from production to pantry has been responsible for
GHG emission, the second largest emission activity, first being generated
from power stations.

Farming practices
Traditional farming practices along with the usage of pests and weeds, loss
of fertility of the soil, salinity of the dry land, all account for carbon
footprint on our environment. If the consumption pattern of the people
continues we need to increase the production as much as twice by the year
2050. In this context, changing climate, increase in population and
skyrocketing prices for energy, fertilizers, and of course water unavoidably
have been taken into consideration.

Depleting water resource
You all must be aware that water is the essential resource required to grow
food grains/fruits/vegetables, to support the animals and for households as
well. Since the water resources throughout the world are depleting rapidly
apparently world war III would be over water alone from my perspective.
Before wasting any food you just think of the fact that how much water has
been consumed to bring the food to your plate or pantry.

Food waste in India

In India, tons of quality food has been wasted in households, restaurants,
social get-togethers daily as per the latest survey besides the food grain
waste in the public sector. More than 15-20 items have been dished out at
social gatherings/parties/functions. At least 75-125 grams of food in each
meal served in a party/function has been wasted as per the survey report.
With a typical meal served at the commercial/party level containing
approximately 2,076 calories, it would be sufficient for a two-day meal of an
average person. It does reveal sizable percentage of food waste. In India,
over 250 million people live their livelihood without food daily due to
insufficient warehouse facilities and improper distribution system. Up to 40%
gets rotten en route to the food market in India, it is stated.

What can we do to avoid/reduce/manage food
waste in India?

Since India has the second largest population in the world its accountability
for food waste in India is enormous either in the form of avoidable or unavoidable
waste. We alone are responsible that tons of food is being wasted every day
and lot of people could have been served with that. Food waste occurs at
various sectors namely households, commercials, industries, etc. Commercials
include restaurants, delis, bakery, fruit shops, etc. Food waste at the
industrial sector is the waste done at the production, processing, storage,
packing, and distribution sectors. Whatever sector it has been certainly
avoiding food waste is a foremost solution. Yet apart from this, food waste
management is essential to reduce carbon footprint. Let me go ahead with some simple
tips to avoid food waste in the households and commercial/industrial
sectors as well.

In the households
1. Learn to shop and cook smartly, and save food to avoid waste.
2. Do careful planning before bringing food products to your pantry/kitchen
3. To be more sensible whilst organizing any party or social gathering at
your households
4. Let your children be aware of the importance of food and the impact of
food waste on environment
5. Before throwing away the uneaten food left at your household parties,
think for a moment and go ahead to donate to charities through NGOs in your
area. You would have not only preserved environment but also brought in smiles
in the unfortunate faces.
6. Create your own compost at your premises to make fertilizers
for your gardens if the food is left uneaten or rotten or left over at your
kitchen. You are reducing the food waste and setting an example for recycling
as well.

In the commercial/industrial/other sectors
1. Following essential food safety techniques helps in not only avoiding food
waste but in cost efficiency too.
2. Consuming local produce will not need much transportation and hence lasts
longer.
Setting up of food waste audit certainly guides you to realize how much and
why food has been wasted.
3. Maintaining a weekly record of tracking the quantities of served food and
sales will enhance your business and helps in to prevent wastage of food.
4. Trained staff and correct techniques in food handling and safety does
reduce food waste
5. Keeping skins on vegetables and fruits will avoid food waste
6. Maintaining correct temperature and good storage facilities for
perishables namely dairy products and meat will work out in no food waste
campaigning
7. Regular checking of temperatures, seals on fridges and freezers and
rotation of stock to keep them fresh will bring down spoilage.
8. Offering flexible serving sizes and assessing portion sizes in favor of
the customers would lead to prevent food waste.
9. Providing appropriate doggy bags on customer’s request in the
restaurants/food malls will apparently reduce food waste.
10. Again, donating the leftover quality food at the eateries/restaurants to
charity homes/orphanages will help in reducing the global warming instead of
throwing them to landfills.
11. To repeat, recycling the food waste or compost it to produce organic
fertilizers would be the best choice if food waste is unavoidable.

In the context of the food waste in public sectors, food waste especially of
food grains can be avoided through appropriate warehouse support and
prohibiting huge hoarding of stocks by the middlemen. Instead, the government
will organize farmers market (Uzhavar Santhai) in different places at
frequent intervals. This inevitably will prevent/reduce food waste to the
maximum extent. Though measures have been taken but remains stalemate leading
to tons of food wasted without proper distribution to the needy. This is
because of inappropriate distribution system in the country.

In a nutshell, to meet the zero-hunger initiative, all including the
consumers, food and hospitality industry, and the government have to take
part in the global campaign against food waste launched by the UNEP/UNFAO. It
is prudent that we collectively require a transition in the pattern we
produce and procure food but not at the cost of depleting our natural
resources. Let us involve in the campaign actively by eating food, avoiding
waste, reducing food-print and hence saving environment to bring forth a
sustainable wonderful universe.