Determinants of consumer food waste behaviour

Food wastage has become a very important issue this time. Its importance has been increasing during the last decades, owing to many factors, such as, the lack of natural resources, and the increase of the world population. As a result of this rise which will have exceeded nine billion people by the end of the first half of this century, FAO has predicted that there will be excessive growth in food production in the same period (Gunders, 2012: 19). This essay mainly focuses on consumption as a key reason for this dilemma, mostly, in developed countries. Initially, it will give a glance about the importance of this issue. The second part of the essay will cover the wasteful habit of consumers in some of the first world countries. Before its conclusion, the essay will discuss the increase of food price and public awareness as two possible solutions to decrease food wasted. Finally, it will conclude with a preferred solution. The importance of food wastage seems to be due to four significant factors. The first one is related to an increase of the world population. The inhabitants of the world will increase, according to the United Nations' prediction; there will be around nine and half billion people by the end of the third quarter of this century, which means more demand for food (Fox, 2013: 2). The second reason is that producing food consumes the earth's finite resources. Food manufacturing is creating more need for the essential earth treasures such as land, water, and energy (Bond et al., 2013: 3). For instance, about three quarter of 3.8 trillion m 3 of consumed water goes to the field of agriculture, and due to the need for more food this number is estimated to go up to 13 trillion m 3 by 2050 (Fox, 2013: 3). The complex nature of wasted food and its powerful effect are the third factor that is likely to make it very important. Food waste appears to be very complicated to a level where it affects many different issues, which are social, economic, and environmental (FAO, 2013: 59). The last one of these four reasons is the excessive amount of wasted food, which mankind loses annually. Around a third up to half of four billion tons of produced food has been evaluated to be a wasted food each year (Fox, 2013: 25). These reasons prove the danger of food wastage, and the necessity for an action to reduce this waste. Wasteful habit of consumers is almost certain to play a main role in food wastage and affects some other food supply chain elements. Around thirty to fifty percent of sold food in developed countries has been estimated to be a wasted food (Fox, 2013: 3). In addition to this, seventy five percent of wasted food in the United Kingdom is likely to be caused by consumers, and this can mean £11.8bn is lost per annum (Bond et al., 2013: 1). This huge amount of money that is lost annually seems to be a result to the cheapness of food prices. Food tends to be not valued much in Britain because it may does not cost the family more than eleven percent of its income (Fox, 2013: 23). Twenty percent of the purchased food in the UK becomes wasted food, and more than sixty percent could be avoided, if there is enough awareness. Consumers are almost certain to be one of the causes of food wastage during the harvest period, in an indirect way. A part of vegetable and fruit is not harvested because of market's

2014

Journal of Social Sciences, 2021

The article addresses the issue of food waste, which presents a global problem that has recently become even more important on the public and political agenda. The importance of this topic will continue to grow, especially given the need to feed a growing world population. At the same time, in the pandemic conditions created by Covid-19, it presents a major challenge at the international level, both from a health and social point of view, enormously affecting the economies and all industrial sectors, including agriculture, food production, and especially food consumption and food waste. Food is a precious commodity, and its production can require significant resources. Current estimations indicate that around one third of food produced worldwide for human consumption is wasted or lost, which generates significant economic and environmental costs. Food waste is a problem that occurs throughout the food chain and therefore measures should target all its components, with potential bene...

The Developing Economies, 2019

Global food insecurity, which currently affects around 800 million people, is going to be exacerbated by an increase in the world's population from 7.2 billion to 9.5 billion in 2050. This growth comes at a time when the land available for food production and crop yields is being reduced by climate change, with the attendant increase in agricultural stress caused by declines in rainfall, in addition to desertification, infestation, and disease. At the same time as food supplies are threatened, it is estimated that across the world a considerable proportion of the food produced is lost or wasted. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimated in a report prepared in 2011 that 1.3 billion tons of foodstuffs, equivalent to a third of the global food production, is lost or wasted every year. The United Nations Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability estimated that food wasted by consumers in high-income countries is roughly equal to the entire food production of sub-Saharan Africa. Food loss and waste also has significant environmental impacts. The FAO estimated in 2014 that 3.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide is generated by lost or wasted food along the supply chain. This represents approximately 14% of the world's CO 2 emissions. Food left to rot in landfill also impacts land biodiversity around the landfill, polluting waterways and groundwater. The water used for irrigation to produce the food which is wasted is estimated to be able to meet the domestic water needs of 9.5 billion people. Despite these surprising statistics and in an era in which the world has set itself Sustainable Development Goals, including "Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture," this is the first book which examines the issue of food loss and waste (FLW) and proposes concrete policy initiatives which tie FLW, food security, and efforts to promote sustainable development. The opening chapter locates FLW within international concerns to reduce food insecurity and discusses international efforts to establish a "right to food." Remedial policies in the field of FLW are dependent upon establishing accepted definitions of the terms which are used in this area, as well as an accepted methodology for measuring FLW along the food supply chain. In Chapter 2 the book clarifies the definitional issues and adopts for the purposes of analysis the composite expression FLW to include all losses of food from the food supply chain, prior to consumption, and the waste of food at the stage of consumption. This chapter also surveys the various metrics of FLW which have been proposed in the scholarship and endorses the Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard proposed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) as an authoritative quantification methodology.

Chinese Business Review, 2015

Globally, about one third of all food produced is wasted every year. Losses take place along the entire food chain and they need to be analyzed and monitored due to their impact on the development of the food sector. In addition to quantitative losses, irrational use of food contributes to the depletion of natural resources (water and energy) and poses a threat to the environment, constituting a barrier to sustainable development of the food sector. The aim of this study was to establish the causes and effects of food waste throughout the food supply chain and to propose mitigation measures. Identified causes of food waste can be divided into two groups. The first are those that lead to the fact that food cannot be consumed (e.g., inadequate conditions of agricultural production and interruption of the cold chain). In the second, those that cause food cannot be sold (e.g., wrong label and wrong product weight). Most of the identified causes of food waste can be avoided (e.g., by improving the conditions of production, storage, and transportation). However, it is not possible to eliminate all potential errors leading to food waste. It is therefore necessary to consider what action to take to use food as intended. One way to reduce losses and food waste can be redistributing to charity. Keywords: food losses and food waste, causes of food losses and food waste, potential ways of reducing the waste of food, sustainable development  This publication has been developed under the contract with the National Center for Research and Development Nr/IS-1/031/NCBR/2014 for carrying out and funding of a project implemented as part of the "social innovation" program called "a model to limit food losses and waste with benefit to the society" (acronymed MOST).

Open Book Publishers, 2023

The concept of a food system involves the full food and nutrition chain from production to consumption, as well as their impact on the environment. A more comprehensive approach to efficiently combat food insecurity that would not just target primary food production but also social, political, economic and environmental aspects, among others, was suggested some years ago and has since gained increasing attention when it comes to making diets healthier and more sustainable. What people eat is indeed influenced by a multitude of factors, not just the availability of food. Efforts to improve not only food security but also diet quality with regards to healthiness must focus on the entire life cycle of food, from the field, farm or water in which it is produced to the disposal of the waste it creates, and including various influential factors and drivers and the sociocultural environment Global Panel, 2016 and 2020). Already in 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) dedicated its annual report on 'The State of Food and Agriculture' to the subject of 'Food Systems for Better Nutrition'. Food systems were defined as: the entire range of activities involved in the production, processing, marketing, consumption and disposal of goods that originate from agriculture, forestry or fisheries, including the inputs needed and the outputs generated at each of these steps [and also involving] the people and institutions that initiate or inhibit change in the system as well as the sociopolitical, economic and technological environment in which these activities take place (FAO, 2013a).

Sustainability

About one-third of the food produced globally for human consumption is lost or wasted each year. This represents a loss of natural resources consumed along the food supply chain that can also have negative impacts on food security. While food loss occurs between production and distribution and is prevalent in low-income countries, food waste occurs mainly at the consumer level, in the retail and food service sectors, and especially in developed countries. Preventing food losses and waste is therefore a potential strategy for better balance food supply and demand and is essential to improve food security while reducing environmental impact and providing economic benefits to the different actors in the food supply chain. In this context, we specifically provide an overview of case studies and examples of legislation from different countries and actions carried out by the various actors in the food chain and by non-profit organisations to effectively prevent and or reduce food loss and...

Waste Management and Research, 2021