AMERICAN URGED TO STOP WASTING FOOD?
WASHINGTON, U.S.A. - In the run-up to Thanksgiving, a holiday to
celebrate bountiful harvests, Americans are being urged to stop wasting food so
much.
Some 34 million pounds (15.4 million kilograms) of food is
thrown away in the United States every year, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) said Friday.
That represents 21 percent of all food produced, harvested
and purchased - food that is worth an estimated US$1.3 billion (S$1.7 billion),
at a time when one in six Americans face hunger.
The EPA launched a social media campaign this week to draw
attention to the link between food waste and greenhouse gases produced when
unwanted food ends up in landfills.
Such waste is a significant source of methane, which the EPA
on its website says has "21 times the global warming potential of carbon
dioxide."
- "There are actions that individuals and businesses can take to protect the environment," EPA assistant administrator Mathy Stanislaus told reporters.
- The typical American family of four, he said, could save US$1,600 a year by reducing their food waste.
- On Friday the federal government agency teamed up with prominent Washington area chef and restauranteur Cathal Armstrong, who demonstrated how ingredients that a homemaker might throw away can be put to good use.
- "The trashcan is the last, last, last resort," said the Irish-born chef as he whipped up a lobster bisque in a kitchen adjoining an ongoing exhibition about food around the world at the National Geographic museum.
- While 40 percent of food waste comes from households, 60 percent originates from businesses and institutions, such as restaurants, food retailers and hospitals.
- Armstrong, who oversees four successful restaurants and published a cook book earlier this year on Irish food, said an eatery that wastes food is almost sure to go under.
- He lamented the failure of culinary schools to teach aspiring chefs the economics of using every ingredient to the maximum extent possible.
"For the most part, chefs have to learn (how not to
waste food) themselves," Armstrong said, as he stripped a lobster and put the
typically undesired bits into a simmering pot.
"It's shocking how many people come to me knowing how
to make stock, but they don't know why we make stock," he said, adding by
way of advice: "Never be without stock."
The National Geographic Society is currently looking at food from all fronts, from its "Food: Our Global Kitchen" exhibition and "Eat: The Story of Food" TV series to the December issue of its iconic yellow - bordered
magazine.
The National Geographic Society is currently looking at food from all fronts, from its "Food: Our Global Kitchen" exhibition and "Eat: The Story of Food" TV series to the December issue of its iconic yellow - bordered
magazine.
Source: AFP
THIRTY PERCENT OF WORLD'S FOOD WASTED
An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food is lost or wasted annually as 800 million people go hungry.
ROME, Italy- Enough food to feed two billion people is wasted every year, leading
UN agencies to create a new interactive platform to try to reduce the
losses, which could easily feed the world's 800 million who go hungry.
An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food, or roughly 30 percent of global
production, is lost or wasted annually, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization.
It remains unclear how effective the new platform will be in solving the
problem, but analysts say it is a step in the right direction.
The Global Community of Practice of Food Loss Reduction web portal,
launched last week, allows users to get information about ways of
reducing waste.
"We need to close the gap between people being aware of this problem and
what they do when they are standing in the grocery store or in the
kitchen," said Dana Gunders, a scientist with the Natural Resources
Defense Council, a US environmental advocacy group.
Awareness is the first step the more specific the information [available on the
portal] the more helpful it is in terms of reductions.
More than 40 percent of root crops, fruits and vegetables, 20 percent of oil
seeds, and 35 percent of fish never reach the mouths of hungry people,
the FAO reported.
In developed countries, food waste usually occurs in homes or restaurants,
when consumers discard products they believe have gone rotten, or in
grocery stores if products don't look picture perfect due to slight
blemishes.
Most of the developing world's spoilage happens during storage or transport,
as infrastructure for refrigeration and preservation
is often
inadequate.
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