Among other UN commemorations aimed at achieving the goals of the Sustainable Development Program, there are those that are aimed at updating the problems associated with the lack of balance between the production and consumption of food products in different parts of the planet, despite the fact that in some of its regions the population regularly experiences malnutrition and even hunger.
Among such memorable dates, a special place is occupied by the International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, established by Resolution of the UN General Assembly, celebrated annually on September 29. The adoption of the resolution (A/RES/74/209) took place in December 2019.
The decision was made based on data compiled and analyzed by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and UNEP (UN Environment Program). According to the data presented, the world is losing about a third of all food products produced. This process consists of losses in the process of food production and delivery to the sales network, as well as the transformation of food products into food waste at the sales stage and in the consumption process.
Thus, about 14% of food production is lost from harvest to retail, with estimates showing that 17% of global food production is lost and wasted.
Identifying such a volume of food losses and spoilage against the backdrop of a serious problem of food shortages in certain regions of the planet pushes the UN to draw the attention of representatives of the production sector, the sphere of delivery and sale of food products to this problem, to approach it through a more rational approach, increasing the culture of production, processing, delivery, sales in order to reduce the volume of losses and spoilage of products. The UN makes the same appeal to ordinary citizens who are end consumers of food.
Reducing losses in the production and delivery of food products to the retail chain will, according to FAO experts, help 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, were lost or turned into waste. In fact, these costs (financial, energy, labor) turn out to be useless. But the share of energy costs alone for food products that end up in waste is about 35%. In addition, food waste replenishes those volumes of waste that need to be processed taking into account the maintenance of environmental safety, which in turn also requires the use of enormous resources.
Postcard «September 29 — International Day for the Dissemination of Information on Food Losses and Food Waste»