Food Waste in the Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Food waste (FW) is a critical challenge in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This paper analyzes research dealing with food waste in the GCC countries (viz. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates). It draws upon a systematic review performed on Scopus in January 2020. The paper covers both bibliometrics (e.g., authors, affiliations, journals) and research topics (e.g., causes, food supply chain stages, extent and quantity, food security, economic impacts, environmental implications, management strategies). A main finding of the review is the scarcity of data on FW in the GCC in general and in Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain in particular. Most of the selected articles address FW reuse and recycling (e.g., waste-to-energy conversion, compost production). Indeed, other FW management strategies, such as reduction/prevention and redistribution, are overlooked. The systematic review highlights that further research on FW in the GCC is highly needed with a focus on the identified research gaps such as causes and drivers, trends, magnitude and extent, environmental and economic impacts, along with implications of food wastage in terms of food security. Since food wastage is a common issue for all GCC countries, these research gaps should be addressed in a shared regional research agenda.

Impact of COVID-19 on Food Behavior and Consumption in Qatar

“…With COVID-19, most of the meals are prepared and eaten at home, and less leftover is thrown away. Knowing that food waste is a serious issue in Qatar and the GCC region in general [85], this indicates an interesting shift toward a more sustainable food consumption pattern. As observed in Tunisia [62], the COVID-19 pandemic pushed toward a positive behavioral change regarding food waste in Qatar.…”

Visualization and Analysis of Mapping Knowledge Domains for Food Waste Studies

“…At the same time, these increasing studies have been published in different journals in many subject categories. Moreover, some scientometric studies have been published to analyze the development trend of FW research [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. This shows that food security is becoming a hot spot in environmental protection and resource research.…”

Post-consumer food waste generation while dining out: A close-up view

“…Environmentally, food wastage results, among others, in an estimated annual carbon footprint of 3.3 Gtons equivalents. Its disposal in landfills is a major emitter of methane gas (CH 4 ), 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) [13,14] in terms of its contribution to climate change and global warming [15]. The water footprint-another major natural resource depletion resulting from food waste generation [2,13], is estimated at 250 km 3 in water resources used for the agricultural production of wasted food [14], while the latter in turn occupies around 30% of the world's agricultural land area [16].…”

“…On a side note, with 40% of their agricultural commodities imported, these countries are highly dependent on food imports to meet their nutritional requirements [8,22]. Yet food wastage in the region remains comparatively high; estimated at around 250 Kg per capita, it is higher than the global food waste average [8,13,15]. Reducing FLW generation is becoming more imperative to limit the challenges of safeguarding food security in the NENA region.…”