In the Philippines and around the world, millions of poor people scavenge bins every day for food, while the privileged, like us, waste food without a blink.
Malnourishment is defined as being weak or in a bad health state because of too little food or too little types of food required to stay healthy (Cambridge Dictionary). Globally, over 822 million suffer from malnourishment. 9 million people out of those 822 million people die due to malnutrition and other hunger-related diseases every year. This death count is greater than Malaria, Tuberculosis and Aids combined! In fact, a child dies every 10 seconds because of hunger. In the time that you spent reading until this point, a child died from hunger (“The World Counts”). In the Philippines alone, P23 million worth of rice is wasted every day. This much rice is enough to feed 4.3 million people (Kurt Dela Peña). Not only that, but also around 64 percent of Filipino households are food insecure, which means that they don’t know is they will even get something to eat for dinner (“World Hunger Facts & Quotes - Rise against Hunger”).
The issue is not that enough food is not produced, but it is that a lot of the food produced gets wasted. In fact, over 1.3 billion tons of food gets lost or wasted every year, which is roughly ⅓ of the total food that is produced. If even ¼ of this food wasted would be saved, 870 million people could be fed with it. Some major contributors to food waste are households, food establishments like restaurants and other retailers.
Currently, there are little to no laws against food waste by restaurants in other countries or in the Philippines. I believe that one simple way to reduce the amount of food waste by restaurants would be to make a law that makes it mandatory for the restaurants to donate their left-over food, whether it is already prepared meal that were not eaten because of any reason, or even the fruits and vegetables that the restaurant thinks might not be used on time. Instead of throwing away these food items, they should donate it to local food banks or communities that would be really grateful to receive these. Of course, making a new law is not an easy task. We have to be united and advocate as a community so that our voices will be heard by the government of the Philippines, urging them to take action and fulfill our demands. There can also be an argument that who would take responsibility for any illness caused to the people who eat the food. I would say that the restaurants or any other food establishment that are donating food, should make sure that the food is safe to eat, and even if something goes wrong and someone gets ill, the donations from the people and also the establishment or restaurants can pay for the treatment. In the end, I want to call on the Philippines government to implement this law that makes it mandatory for restaurants to donate food. It will be a win-win situation. Wasted food will not fill landfills as trash, and poor and hungry people would be fed.
Of course, unless you are the government, you cannot make a law to prevent food waste, but what you can do is reduce your food waste as a household. In fact, households produce 120% more food waste than restaurants (Peña). I believe that it is not too hard to reduce the amount of food waste that we generate as a household. A little awareness and education about it can take us a long way. When food is wasted, we waste not only the food, but also the water, labor, energy, capital, and land that were utilized to produce it when we throw it away (Nations). If we are conscious of our choices, we can simply avoid food waste. We can use the checklist below to help us make sure we don’t waste food and also, share it with others, so they can too -
- Shop only what you need: Make a meal plan and then shop accordingly. Not only will you waste less food, but you will also save money!- Buy ugly fruits and vegetables: Don't judge a fruit or vegetable by its appearance; many times, it's merely ugly on the outside, but it's still safe, fresh, and healthy!- Understand the food labels: "Use Before" and "Best Before" dates on products vary significantly. "Use Before" indicates that the product may not be safe beyond the expiration date, whereas "Best Before" indicates that it simply tastes better before the expiration date. It's still perfectly safe to eat!- Start with a reduced amount of food on the plate: if more is needed, go ahead. This will keep you from loading a lot of food onto your plate and then not eating it or throwing it away.- Respect the food: Recognize that you are fortunate to have meals served to you whenever you need them, and do something to help others who do not share this privilege. Learn more about food waste and raise awareness to others, and remember- a change is a change, does not matter how small or how big it is.- Use your leftovers: if you still have food left-over after implementing these steps, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This will preserve it for a longer period of time, allowing you to use it for another time. Don't dump it away! (FAO)
Although I am only an eighth grader, I believe that a change is a change, does not matter how small or big it is. If what I am doing matters to even a single person, then it was worth it. If you want to join me in my journey to end hunger, show your support by signing this petition so that other people can also be educated and made aware of this issue and the solutions.
- Daksh Yadav
ISM Eight Grader
Works Cited
Cambridge Dictionary. “Malnourished.” @CambridgeWords, 11 May 2022, dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/malnourished?q=malnourished..
FAO. “15 Quick Tips for Reducing Food Waste and Becoming a Food Hero.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2020, www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1309609/
Kurt Dela Peña. “The Malady of Food Waste: Millions Starve as Trash Bins Fill with Leftovers.” INQUIRER.net, INQUIRER.net, Oct. 2021, newsinfo.inquirer.net/1505252/the-malady-of-food-waste-millions-starve-as-trash-bins-fill-with-leftovers.
Nations, United. “Food Loss and Waste Reduction | United Nations.” United Nations, United Nations, 2014, www.un.org/en/observances/end-food-waste-day
“The World Counts.” Theworldcounts.com, 2022, www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/people-and-poverty/hunger-and-obesity/how-many-people-die-from-hunger-each-year/story
“World Hunger Facts & Quotes - Rise against Hunger.” Rise against Hunger, 8 Mar. 2022, riseagainsthungerphilippines.org/understanding-hunger/world-hunger-facts/.
“Worldwide Food Waste.” ThinkEatSave, 2013, www.unep.org/thinkeatsave/get-informed/worldwide-food-waste#:~:text=Roughly%20one%2Dthird%20of%20the,tonnes%20%2D%20gets%20lost%20or%20wasted
