Half of all food thrown away, report claims
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | January 10, 2013 19:54Up to half of all the food produced in the world — two billion tonnes of it — is thrown away, according to a report published on Thursday.
The waste is caused by poor infrastructure and storage facilities in the developing world, and “buy-one-get-one-free” offers, and the fussiness of consumers in the developed world, the report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers said.
Every year, four billion tonnes of food is produced, but between 30 percent and 50 percent is never consumed, according to the report entitled “Global Food; Waste Not, Want Not”.
One of the worst offenders is Britain, where as much as 30 percent of vegetables are not harvested because they are misshapen and supermarkets will not sell them.
The report also suggests that half of the food that is bought in Europe and the United States is thrown away by consumers.
Dr Tim Fox, head of energy and environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: “The amount of food wasted and lost around the world is staggering.
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