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| [PHOTO: Nick Saltmarsh/Flickr/CC BY 2.0] |
Geneva: Simple actions by consumers and food retailers can
dramatically cut the 1.3 billion tones of food lost or wasted each year and
help shape a sustainable future, according to a new global campaign to cut food
waste launched by the UN Environment Program (UNEP), the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners.
The campaign, 'Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint',
specifically targets food wasted by consumers, retailers and the hospitality
industry.
Worldwide, about one-third of all food produced, worth
around US$1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food production and consumption
systems, according to data released by FAO. Food loss occurs mostly at the
production stages - harvesting, processing and distribution - while food waste
typically takes place at the retailer and consumer end of the food-supply
chain.
Ann Tutwiler, Deputy Director-General of the Food and
Agriculture Organziation (FAO) briefing reporters at the campaign launch in
Geneva said that, the wasted food in the industrialized world, amounted to
"more than the total net production of food in Africa".
Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of the United Nations
Environmental program (UNEP) said that around a third of everything produced
under the heading of food on this planet is being lost, he added that "we
are doing something that is completely irrational". -UNifeed