Food waste impact on Romanian households

Abstract

Food waste is an increasing issue in the global contexts of food security, scarcity, and the environment. Resources used to generate food raw materials, food processing and distribution have a significant impact on the environment. Our contemporary development pattern, based on consumption stimulation, generates social and geographic disparities, with highly over stimulated consumption in economically developed areas and reduced food availability or even famine in poor communities. As such, we are faced with the both the problems of food waste and food scarcity at the same time. The present article is assessing the Romanian consumer’s food waste impact in 2020, based on data from a nation-wide urban areas statistically representative group.

Food Waste along the Food Chain in Romania: An Impact Analysis

“…The results indicate a placement close to the European average of 20% and a general level of waste in a range of 14.56% to 21.94%. In the UK, the level of FW is reported to be 22.32% [39].…”

“…Reduced variant: we started from the hypothesis that the impact of the HoReCa sector in the total volume of food is insignificant, representing less than 3% of the volume of food purchased by household consumers [39], so that the impact of waste on this sector was eliminated from the calculation of the consolidated value of food waste on the whole food chain.…”

Determinants of Food Waste from Household Food Consumption: A Case Study from Field Survey in Germany

“… In questionnaire-based surveys household members assess the amount of food wastage. Answers are often closer to social or individual norms than to true values [ 27 , 28 , 29 ]. According to the study by Schmidt et al (2015), the amount of avoidable waste is up to 19% lower [ 2 ].…”

“…Several studies show that household waste behaviour has various determinants and interdependencies [ 1 , 5 , 13 , 25 , 29 ]. Different driving forces like incorrect understanding of best-before-dates, little overview on stocks, poor time management, and insufficient planning which causes quality problems, such as little knowledge and competence of preparation as well as re-use of leftovers lead to FW.…”

“…Food is often wasted because consumers fear foodborne diseases or consumers are unable to assess food born health risks. Consumers feel that wasting food even prior the best-before-date reduces health risks [ 13 , 25 , 29 , 34 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. If, however, self-determination and freedom of choice are assumed for consumers, the observed FLW may be the result of utility maximising [ 41 ] (see Table 2 ).…”