Food waste accounting methodologies: Challenges, opportunities, and further advancements

Abstract

About one third of the food produced globally is wasted along the food chain, representing a burden for the environment and an inefficiency of the food system. Tackling food waste is a priority on the global political agenda to guarantee food security. Defining a methodology for food waste quantification is key to monitoring progress towards the achievement of reduction targets. This paper summarises the outcomes of a workshop on food waste accounting co-organised by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and Directorate-General on Health and Food Safety with the aim of stimulating harmonisation of methodologies, identifying challenges, opportunities, and further advancement for food waste accounting. The paper presents methodological aspects, e.g. system boundaries, reliability of data, accounting of water flows, to ensure better support to food waste policy design and interventions. It addresses all the actors of the food supply chain, governments, and research institutions.

Fruit Wastes as Promising Sources of Starch: Extraction, Properties, and Applications

“…According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations every year about one‐third (≈1.6 billion tons) of the food produced globally is lost or wasted. Food waste is defined by FAO as “food losses of quality and quantity by the process of the supply chain taking place at production, post‐harvest, and processing stages.” Associated with food waste, it is estimated that the world population will increase to more than 9.7 billion by 2050. Thereby, an adequate supply of food to the fast growing population represents a worldwide challenge .…”

Green economy: waste management and recycling methods

“…Incineration of waste at high temperatures and its transformation into residual or gaseous products is known as "incineration". Incineration should take place at temperatures of 800-1000°C [7]. There are several types of incinerators for waste treatment.…”

Expiry Dates, Consumer Behavior, and Food Waste: How Would Italian Consumers React If There Were No Longer “Best Before” Labels?

“…subject to data constraints I j ⊗ X y = I j ⊗ X p + I j ⊗ X Vw (4) and the normalization constraints led us to the solution of this optimization problem, and therefore to obtain the estimated of p ij and w ijm (and then e ij ) aŝ…”

“…Indeed, UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 includes states that its target is to halve per capita FW at retail and consumer levels and reduce food loss throughout production and food supply chains (FSCs), including post-harvest losses, by 2030 [3]. Moreover, the importance of the FW issue has been acknowledged in Europe by including this issue in the EU action plan for circular economy [4]. Indeed, interventions by member states, regions, cities, and businesses along the FSC are essential for the prevention of FW and for dealing with the different situations that may arise across countries and regions, and awareness campaigns are required in order to change consumer behavior [5].…”

“…Secondly, it has been demonstrated [9] that there are a range of factors that encourage people to reduce FW at both individual and contextual (territorial) levels. For this reason, even if planning and harmonization at a central European level is essential from a methodological perspective (i.e., common definition, common methodologies to tackle FW issues), it is much more important to analyze national contexts separately and enhance the level of disaggregation of the analysis in order to accurately consider individual and territorial heterogeneity [4] when sample data make it possible.…”