Buy funny fruit to reduce food waste

A few simple actions like buying oddly shaped fruit and freezing food could dramatically reduce the 1.3 billion tonnes of lost or wasted food each year, according to a new global campaign to cut food waste.

The Think.Eat.Save Reduce Your Foodprint campaign was launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners. The campaign specifically targets food wasted by consumers, retailers and the hospitality industry.

Worldwide, about a third of all food produced, worth around US$1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food production and consumption systems, according to data released by FAO. Food loss occurs mostly at the production stages - harvesting, processing and distribution - while food waste typically takes place at the retailer and consumer end of the food-supply chain.

“Aside from the cost implications, all the land, water, fertilisers and labour needed to grow that food is wasted - not to mention the generation of greenhouse gas emissions produced by food decomposing on landfill and the transport of food that is ultimately thrown away,” said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

“Together, we can reverse this unacceptable trend and improve lives. In industrialised regions, almost half of the total food squandered, around 300 million tonnes annually, occurs because producers, retailers and consumers discard food that is still fit for consumption,” said José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General.

“If we can help food producers to reduce losses through better harvesting, processing, storage, transport and marketing methods, and combine this with profound and lasting changes in the way people consume food, then we can have a healthier and hunger-free world.”

The campaign website, www.thinkeatsave.org, provides retailers and consumers with simple tips. Users can make food waste pledges on the site and those running campaigns can exchange ideas and use the site as a platform.

Some advice offered on the website includes: shop smart, buy funny fruit, understand expiry dates and zero down your fridge.

The campaign is run with support of the SAVE FOOD Initiative, run by the FAO and trade fair organiser Messe Düsseldorf, that aims to reduce food lost and wasted along the entire chain of food production and consumption,.