Op Ed- How We Can Put an End to Food Waste
Lillian Wu
June 27, 2024
GSSE Stem in Society
Dr. Gehrman
How We Can Put an End to Food Waste
In 2019, 17% of all food available to consumers was thrown away, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. This equates to about 931 million metric tons in one year. At the same time, the global malnutrition rate was an estimated 9%. In the United States, the figure rises to an estimated 30 to 40%. Not only is the food waste problem severe- it connects directly to other issues concerning infrastructure and government intervention supporting societies. Only by working together will we be able to put an end to the food waste and its detrimental effects on society. I believe that with collaborative efforts, we should target our resources and efforts to address this problem on equal standing with other environmental issues.
Targeting food waste has direct benefits. A study from the University of Colorado, Boulder suggests that with the reduction of food waste, food prices will go down, and that as a result, people will eat more. This means that food would become more affordable for low-income individuals who would be then have more access to food and nutrition. In addition, this problem in countries with lower-income populations and less access to food should be addressed with improvements to infrastructure. Poor infrastructure and packaging are significant contributors to food waste in these areas, as they make it difficult for food to be transported from farms to people’s homes in a way that keeps them safe from natural events such as floods as well as kept fresh and refrigerated.
There are numerous ways to systematically reduce food waste. In medium-income societies, there are other methods when we have the infrastructure to support them. For example, the FDA recommends that consumers we can take greater care when shopping for food and planning meals, as well as storing food at the proper temperature and duration. On the other hand, restaurants can tackle this problem by limiting overly large food portions and making the portions clear to the consumer. This both reduces food loss and increases profit for the restaurant. Food producers can also contribute by harvesting food only when it is ready, maximizing crop yield and minimizing environmental damage with proper equipment and using technology to make crucial decisions based on environmental factors.
The government also has the potential to play a greater role in the food waste issue. Policymakers are able to create programs and incentives to reduce food waste as well as legislation tightening the rules on food waste. Ideas such as raising awareness among members of the general public as well as establishing and providing aid to programs aimed to reduce food loss would increase their efficiency in targeting the food loss issue. The current programs are not successful enough. For example, in 2015, the USDA and FDA announced the U.S 2030 Food Loss and Waste Reduction goal, which saw a 6% increase in per-capita food waste from 2015 to 2019. There is clearly a need for more efficient programs.
However, there is hope for goals to be reached. In 2017, the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture committed $123.5 million across 527 projects towards food waste reduction programs. On September 20, 2023, the USDA announced an additional $25 million investment This funding supports various programs working to improve consumer access to food through supporting food production and transportation as well as saving money for families and businesses. With the concentrated efforts of federal support combined with individual effort, we have the potential to tackle the problem of food waste.
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