Food
Wastage
The food wastage is not only a
humanitarian issue as the wasted food has a pervasive impact on the environment
of the region. The food wastage can have more serious implications that a
purely economic analysis of the issue fails to encompass as aside from the
sociological issue of people without access to food, the resources wasted in
growing, transporting and processing are portents of significant environmental
problems. The effects are all distinct and when considered individually, they
are less significant. However, if the effects like the water used in growing
the wasted food and the greenhouse gas emission from the disposed of rotting foodstuff
are considered the implications of the issue become a dominant problem (Venkat, 435). It might
be argued that the issue requires significantly more attention because of the
difference was the food wastage affects the society and environment. As the
issue is prevalent in the developed nations which are making significant
headway in both environmental protection and the social justice this seems like
a topic that can be used to significantly improve the overall effects of the
issue. In this exercise, the United States is considered for the explorations
this country is not only the largest in terms of the food wastage volume but
also with the technological and economic wherewithal to address the potential
impacts caused by the issue.
Evidence
A report in the Guardian suggested that
the average American household wastes 1 pound of food per person per day which
is mostly fruits and vegetables that amount to a national equivalent of
150000tons of food being wasted each day across the country (Milman). The statistics
also indicate that the fresh food that spoils more easily like vegetables,
fruit, dairy and meat are the most wasteful in this regard. The annual volume
of wasted food items amounts up to 60 million tons that are evaluated to cost
$160 billion. This is a significant loss because the consumption and wastage are
distributed unevenly across the population leading to many going hungry while
the rest waste this massive amount of food every day. The data from the US
Department of Agriculture also further cements the significance of the loss as
the wasted food volume is equated with 30m acres of cropland, 780m pounds of
pesticide and 4.2tn gallons of irrigated water being used unnecessarily to
produce food that is ultimately destined for landfills (Mu 482).
On that note, the wasted food
contributes to 21% of the volume of the landfills which only ends up producing
the greenhouse gas methane to negatively affect the pollution, climate and
exacerbates the global warming issue. The pollutions caused by food wasted in the
US alone is equivalent to 39 million passenger vehicles that drive home the
significance of the issue form the environmental perspective. The issue should
be considered a priority based solely on the environmental impact, but this is
only part of the impact of food waste as the sociological impact of the food
waste is also significant (Milman). While some
people going without adequate food while the rest are wasting the inordinate
amount of the same is the portent of a social imbalance, this also indicates a
potential solution for the issue that is being ignored. Therefore, the fact
that over 40% of the food produced in the US is wasted, which is significantly
higher the global average, indicates that the issue needs further attention
marking this exploration as a worthwhile initiative to understand the extent of
the problem to devise proper solutions.
The food waste is no doubt a major
issue in the US according to the statistics, but the causation of the issue is
unclear with diverse food consumption and wastage trends across the society.
Even without considering the factor of social injustice, the food waste is
caused by a range of factors including the choice of the consumption trends of
the population that makes it hard to facilitate any universal method for
minimising the wastage of food items across the board (Lansing107). For example, the people who consume more
fresh fruits and vegetable in pursuit of healthy lifestyle contribute more to
the food waste issue as their consumption’s habits lead to large amounts of
fruits and vegetables being thrown out after their freshness is compromised.
Moreover, as the fruits and vegetables
have a lower shelf life than other processed foods, they are thrown out more
frequently than other food items. Form an ecological perspective, while fruits
and vegetables take less cropland, they require significantly more water,
fertilisers and pesticides making this higher in terms of environmental
resources cost (Zepeda and Balaine 631). As the freshness is essential to the marketability of the produce
the transport cost is significantly higher which also contributed to the impact
of the wasted food.
According to Qi and Brian, the main cause
of the issue of food waste escalating over time is the lack of awareness of the
consumers about the cost of wasted food form both environmental and
sociological perspectives. The cost of food which is the main factor considered
by the consumers wasting food is only minimally important in light of the significance
of the issue. More often than not, the consumers associate their trends of food
consumptions with only the most basic of views which make them biased against
the other food groups. For example, the vegans often see meat as more wasteful
produce in terms of the resources required growing but they completely ignore
the water and other resources required to produce and transport fresh produce
that contributed equally to the negative effects of food waste. The cost of
storage and transport is often ignored while considering the cost of wasted
food among the general population which makes the information disjointed
resulting in lack of perception about the true cost of wasted food in each
household across the socioeconomic spectrum (Zepeda and Balaine 634). The
modern, fast-paced lifestyles of the Americans are also a significant factor in
the issue as the time to prepare and preserve food is often considered
unnecessary that increases the issue by some degree.
The households of the US are not the
only source of wasted food as the various parties from the farmers to sellers
all contribute to the issue to a significant degree. The department of
agriculture indicates that about 40% of the food processing industry wastes
food based on cosmetic imperfections (Warshawsky
389). This is also done in the supermarkets who only
sell the perfectly formed fruits and vegetable and the rest are wasted without the
consumers being aware of the fact. “Ugly” Fruit and Veg Campaign is an
initiative that focuses solely on the food wasted based on cosmetic
imperfection across the various levels of the food processing industry (Henson). Majority of
the supermarket chains operating the US grocery sector are therefore guilty of
increasing the wastage of food due to their policies which do not prevent food
waste to a satisfactory degree (Thyberg and Tonjes 118). This not based on financial profitability as the major stores
like the Aldi, Target and Trader Joe’s all have inadequate protection against
food wastage.
Furthermore, these policies are
endorsed if the wasted food is donated to various organizations making this
initiative faulty and inadequate in terms of reducing food wastage and building
awareness against food wastage. The inadequate or malpractices are another
cause of food wastage that occurs across all levels of the industry in agro
products. For example, the packaging can be used to considerably increase the
shelf life of the fresh produce but is often not employed because of the extra
effort necessary in using this as common practice. From cucumbers to beef, all
agricultural produce lasts several days to weeks longer if they are packaged in
plastic. Beef wrapped and vacuum-sealed in plastic lasts 26 days longer, while
bananas last 21 days longer if the same packaging method is used (Heller 485-486). This
is an effective solution to the food waste issue as the countries like Germany
where over 60% of the food sold is packaged appropriately for maximising shelf
life has a much lower degree of food wastage (Lansing 110).
There is also the issue of
environmental footprint which is increased by using plastic in packaging, but
other alternative materials increase transport cost making this the most
effective solution for addressing the food waste issue (Huang 25). The
policies used in food sorting can also be modified for decreasing wastage of
food by finding alternative usage for items that ad deemed unsellable. However,
there is also a list of barriers affecting the food waste issue like economic
feasibility which is often at odds with environmental impacts.
Thus, the current statistics indicate that the US is one of the most wasteful nations when it comes to food waste. The lack of awareness of the population’s regarding the significance of the issue and endorsement of the harmful practices further increase the impact of the issue from both social and environmental perspectives. The need to balance the various areas of impact is also a significant cause of concern as the plastic packing-which is a major source of pollutions helps decrease food waste by a high degree. Therefore the need for strict best practices guideline across all stages of the food industry is required to address the issue in the US along with the programs to increase the awareness of the consumers regarding the significance of the numerous impacts of the food waste.
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