Blog Four: Much Food is Lost or Wasted, World Bank Report says

Summary: This article was about a report released by the World Bank that stated a 25 to 33 percent food loss or waste. The report stated that this amount of loss equates to an average loss of 400 to 500 calories a day per person in underdeveloped or poor countries, such as areas in Africa or South Asia. The loss in these areas, however, are due to issues with the consumption, production, handling and the storage stages of the food. In one example used, there is 5 percent lost in consumption, but a lot more is lost during production and processing. Contrarily, there is a 61 percent loss of food at the consumption stage in North America. In other words, 61 percent of the food lost is actually wasted: it is bought and left to rot. The article ended with a quote from the President of the World Bank, explaining that while millions of people go to bed hungry each night, there are millions of people who go to bed after cleaning their kitchens out of rotted food.

Article: I thought this article brought a very good point to light. Food waste has always been something that I have felt very strongly about, and have actually considered a career in the establishment and maintenance of anti-food waste programs. As a developed country with access to goods from pretty much any corner of the globe, I think we tend to see things as being in arm’s reach. We don’t always think of the farmers that are getting paid low wages, we don’t think of the prices of shipping or the environmental impacts of the shipping. Millions of people around the world are dying because they’re starving. The waste is mostly at production and consumption – issues they have mostly likely because they are underdeveloped. However, we (and other developed countries) bring grain in from poorer countries to feed our livestock (to massive, overgrown proportions) while they are starving for food. But they need money, so how can they refuse?