If recovered, these foods could even feed animals. If the food wasted that occurs all over the world could be saved, it would be enough to feed all the hungry people that exist because most of the foods that are wasted are perfectly edible ( FAO, 2017a, 2017b). It is estimated that 795 million individuals suffer from chronic undernutrition worldwide, and this number is expected to increase in the future ( World Hunger News, 2016). The social dimension of food waste should also not be overlooked because food insecurity is tightly linked to social problems such as famine and undernourishment. According to Baldwin and Shakman (2012), the food industry loses about 4%–10% of its investment in food production every day, and this has a significant toll on the company’s turnover. Moreover, when any food item is discarded, the money invested in its production is also wasted. Because food waste disposal is a frequent activity, this creates an overall heavy economic burden. Because food waste can create unpleasant smells, attract bugs and hence give rise to diseases, it is important that the waste is properly disposed of by professional companies that are paid to collect it. Mourad (2016) mentioned that food waste is accompanied by a range of environmental concomitants, such as soil erosion, deforestation, water and air pollution as well as greenhouse gas emissions that occur in the processes of food production, storage, transportation and waste management.Īpart from its adverse environmental impacts, food waste is also costly in terms of raw materials, labor, production, storage, serving as well as disposal (Waste and Resource Action Programme, WRAP, 2012). On the other hand, a reduction in food losses and waste automatically increases the availability of food for human consumption and reduces the burden on farmers. Hence, food that is not consumed translates to a waste of natural resources used in its production. In addition, the transportation of food materials from one country to another requires a large amount of fossil fuel, and its storage uses electricity ( FAO, 2013a, 2013b). Moreover, the total amount of land used in producing food on earth is around 1.4 billion hectares, which accounts for about 28% of the world’s total area. The overall amount of water needed for food production is estimated to be 250 cubic kilometers, which accounts for 70% of the earth’s water ( Silvennoinen et al., 2014). The environmental impact of food waste is due to the fact that the production of food is considerably resource-intensive. The subject of food waste is a multidimensional issue with environmental, economic and social dimensions. Food loss, on the other hand, refers to food that is considered unfit for human consumption due to a decrease in the quantity and quality of food ( Irani et al., 2017). According to FAO (2014), food waste is defined as food originally intended for human consumption but not consumed by humans. Although the terms “food loss” and “food waste” are sometimes used interchangeably, they have different origins and scope. It is a global paradox that so much emphasis is placed on agriculture to improve food security while one-third of all food produced is wasted ( Conserve energy future, 2017). Food loss and waste have become a complex phenomenon, attracting the attention of scientists and activists alike. Every year, roughly one-third, or approximately 1.3 billion tonnes, of the edible parts of food produced for human consumption are lost or wasted globally. However, achieving this target may be hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The full terms of this licence may be seen at įood production is expected to increase by 70% between 20 to feed a projected global population of 9.1 billion people ( Silva, 2018). Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Published in Tourism Critiques: Practice and Theory. Copyright © 2022, Cheetra Bhajan, Hudaa Neetoo, Shane Hardowar, Navindra Boodia, Marie Françoise Driver, Mahindra Chooneea, Brinda Ramasawmy, Dayawatee Goburdhun and Arvind Ruggoo.
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