ONE BILLION TONS OF FOOD WASTE

In a world where hunger and unemployment are on the rise, according to a United Nations report, people waste one billion tons of food a year, with an average of 74 kilograms of food wasted at home. Following the rate of food thrown out of restaurants and shops is 17%. The report of the World Health Organization says that one-third of the food is not eaten in the world. Food is indispensable for life, so its loss is a crime against life and humanity. Yet it is tragic that, according to the United Nations, an estimated 805 million people go to bed hungry every day. One-third of the world’s food production never reaches the table, including fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy products, seafood and other grains. The painful thing is that if effective measures are taken to get all the wasted food to human consumption, not a single person in the world will go to bed hungry and no child will be malnourished. The shocking fact is that the cost of wasted food can be as high as 1 trillion dollars. Green House gases exceed the total carbon emissions of many countries, so it is not only a social or humanitarian but also a serious environmental problem. Under these circumstances, the major challenge facing the world is to increase food production, reduce the loss of pre-existing food and ensure that it reaches as many people as possible. In this regard, an awareness campaign should be launched all over the world and if possible, every country should make it a crime to waste food, water and other necessities of human life.