Among other UN commemorative dates aimed at achieving the goals of the Sustainable Development Program, there are also those that are aimed at updating problems, associated with the lack of a balance between the production and consumption of food products in different parts of the planet, while in some of its regions the population is regularly experiencing malnutrition and even hunger.
Among such observances, a special place is occupied by the International Day for the Dissemination of Information on Food Losses and Food Wastes, established by the Resolution of the UN General Assembly ( International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction ), celebrated annually on September 29th. The adoption of resolution ( A / RES / 74/209 ) took place in December 2019.
The decision was made on the basis of data compiled and analyzed by FAO ( United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization ) and UNEP ( UN Environment Program ). According to the data presented, the world is losing about a third of all food products produced. This process is the loss in the process of food production and delivery to the sales network, as well as the conversion of food products into food waste at the stage of sale and in the process of consumption.
So, about 14% of the food produced is lost at the stage from harvesting to retail, while estimates show that 17% of the total world food production is spent on losses and waste.
The identification of such a volume of losses and spoilage of food products against the background of a serious problem of food shortages in certain regions of the planet encourages the UN to draw the attention of representatives of the manufacturing sector, the sphere of delivery and sale of food products to this problem, approach it to overcoming it through a more rational approach, increasing the culture of production, processing, delivery, and implementation in order to reduce the amount of losses and spoilage of products. The UN also appeals to ordinary citizens who are end users of food.
Reducing losses in the production and delivery of food products to the retail distribution network will, according to FAO experts, solve the problem of malnutrition and hunger in a number of developing countries. The UN also draws attention to the costs incurred by producers, sellers and consumers of food products that for one reason or another have been lost or turned into waste. In fact, these costs ( financial, energy, labor ) are useless. But the share of energy costs for food products in waste is about 35%. In addition, food waste replenishes the amount of waste that needs to be recycled to maintain environmental safety, which in turn also requires the use of huge resources.
Infographics – poster « September 29 — International Day for the Dissemination of Information on Food Losses and Food Waste »