Food in the News

Photo credit: Love Food Hate Waste 

Food made the front page of many UK papers earlier this week, but not in a delicious way. The stories (you can read them here, here, and here) expose food waste values published by Tesco in its recent Tesco and Society report released earlier this year. This is the first time that Tesco publishes independently assured food waste figures, and they are shocking (to me, at least). 

They calculated that the food wasted during only the first half of this year was of 28,500 tonnes, with the most wasted foods being baked goods (41%) and produce (21%). The report also includes a section on food waste "hotspots", where 5 out of the 25 most purchased foods were analysed for their waste profiles. This analysis indicated that 68% of bagged salad, 47% of baked goods, 40% of apples, 24 % of grapes, and 20% of bananas were wasted. To improve these values, Tesco will look into using smaller cases to sell fruits and vegetables, re-evaluating produce packaging, decreasing the amounts of bread displayed, and improving data analysis to better manage orders.

In their report, Tesco states that their waste value "is a relatively small proportion of the estimated 14.8 million tonnes of food for UK food consumption that is wasted", and while this is true, I think it's important to look at the bigger picture and the fact that all of these small amounts do add up. While perfectly good food is being thrown out the window, people are going hungry and landfills are rapidly growing. Not to mention the costs in natural resources associated with food waste. Tristram Stuart (who won the Sophie Prize in 2011 for raising consciousness about the food waste scandal) has a website that I think summarises all this quite nicely.

While massive changes do need to occur at the industry level, there are many ways that we, the consumers, can avoid wasting food at home and in our daily lives. The "Love Food Hate Waste" group (a subsection of WRAP) has some great tips on how to reduce waste at home. I personally find that making lists and planning meals goes a long way in terms of food waste - and don't get me started on how much money this will save you!

I'm leaving you with Stuart's very interesting TED Talk about the food waste scandal, as well as a couple of links to news articles that I found quite interesting regarding food waste. Have a great weekend!

BBC News: Should you smell food before throwing it away? & Five expired foods you can still eat