While so much of the globe still struggles with starvation and malnutrition, food waste remains a main point of contention for many when considering the massive food industries in developed countries.

According to a recent report by Deccan chronical Food wasted in households, hotels and subsidized canteens, Supermarkets etc is not only a waste of tons of cooked food, but is also a huge burden on the entire food chain. Right from the cost of food grains and vegetables to the transportation, cooking oil, fuel etc is also wasted.

Earlier this year, France became the first country to pass legislation to reduce supermarket waste and force large retailers to donate unsold food.

In Italy, the bill that garnered final approval  in the Italian Senate aims to cut up to one million tonnes of wasted food a year by offering incentives to businesses who donate food to charities and starting new programmes to reduce food waste in schools, hospitals and other public canteens.

Restaurants have to throw away leftovers in the interests of hygiene, and some households do the same. Supermarket surplus food that would have otherwise ended up in the trash. “In India we waste about 30 per cent of the food we produce. Be it at weddings or even at home, we tend to overcook and that will end up in a garbage bin at the end of the day.

India’s total population will reach 1.45 billion by 2028. More distressing, one-third of the world’s malnourished children live in India.

According to NDTV venture smart-cooky , There exists a mechanism of imbalances around us. These imbalances are numerous, affecting almost every strata of the society and millions across the globe. Uncontrolled usage by few leads to scarcity for many. Our water was already impure, now it is so scarce that many regions around the world are facing acute water shortage. Climate change is messing with the regular ebb and flow of seasons, playing around with and often devastating the annual harvest.

 While man is encroaching and spreading his tentacles into the earlier untouched territories of mother earth, green cover is decreasing at an alarming rate. And where there is no scope of horizontal expansion, lives are rapidly piling up on each other to what we call as 'high rises'. While we buy another car and add to the already worsened state of air pollution, we also go ahead and buy devices that clean that very same air (albeit only for us). And, as we speak of people sleeping on an empty stomach, someone just trashed their leftover biryani in the bin behind me! Let's face it, resources were always scarce, but the present situation is more than grim. In the wake of such circumstances, the least that can be done is to keep a check on our resources, use as much as needed, conserve and be watchful of wastage.

Why is food wastage a problem?(Source-thecsrjournal)

-  25% of fresh water used to produce food is ultimately wasted, even as millions of people still don’t have access to drinking water. When you calculate the figures in cubic kilometers, this is a bit more than an average river.

- Even though the world produces enough food to feed twice the world’s present population, food wastage is ironically behind the billions of people who are malnourished. The number of hungry people in India has increased by 65 million more than the population of France. According to a survey by Bhook (an organization working towards reducing hunger) in 2013, 20 crore Indians sleep hungry on any given night. About 7 million children died in 2012 because of hunger/malnutrition.

-Acres of land are deforested to grow food. Approximately 45% of India’s land is degraded primarily due to deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, and excessive groundwater extraction to meet the food demand.

-300 million barrels of oil are used to produce food that is ultimately wasted.

About 1.3 billion tons of nom-worthy edibles per year, and less than a quarter of it could feed hungry people the world over.

 

Requesting Indian Government to bring new Law in-order to Reduce Food Wasted by Supermarkets.and promote social sharing.

Give away superstore food instead of throwing it away in garbage bags.Someone is dying for the food you are throwing away and today’s wastage is tomorrow’s shortage.A nation could eat off the food we waste.This is an absolute travesty, and needs to BE STOPPED. NOW.