Metabolic Food Waste as Food Insecurity Factor – Causes and Preventions

Abstract

The Metabolic Food Waste [MFW (kg of food)], first time developed in 2016 as a new indicator by Serafini and Toti, indicates the amount of food consumed over the nutritional requirements and the impact of this overconsumption on the environment. It is necessary to identify the causes and to develop potential methods to prevent and reduce MFW, at the same time with increasing consumer awareness about unsustainable diets and changing diet habits toward more environmentally conscious consumption patterns. By analysing and corroborating external data available for food waste, nutritional requirements, environmental impact of food waste and consumer behaviour, we identified as primary causes for MFW the lack of nutritional education and little understanding of the nutritional requirements amongst all categories of consumers, no access to appropriate food resources or reduced availability of fresh produced food. We conclude that for the quantification of the negative impact of MFW on both the environment and human health, we need a decisive action to raise consumer awareness for healthy and sustainable diets, together with an uniform worldwide distribution of the nutritious food.

Expounding the Effect of Harvest Management on Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Yield and Latent Loss Based on the Accurate Measurement of Grain Data

“…As the beginning of the post-harvest system for grain [12], the loss of the grain harvest directly affects the quantity and quality of the grain supply [13,14]. A reduction in grain losses is equal to a direct increase in the amount of available grain, and, at the same time, it also avoids the unnecessary expenditure of grain production factors and means of production [15,16]. From an economic point of view, Shadrack shows that harvesting and post-harvest activities account for 21% of the total production cost and nearly 20% of the total loss of grain [17].…”