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The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, says that between 30% and 50% of this total, amounting to 1.2 to 2 billion tonnes, never gets eaten.
In the UK, up to 30% of vegetable crops are not harvested because their physical appearance fails to meet the exacting demands of consumers.
Half the food purchased in Europe and the US is thrown away after it is bought, the report adds.
Vast quantities of water are also wasted in global food production, it is claimed.
Around 550 billion cubic metres of water is used to grow crops that never reach the consumer, according to the report.
The demand for water in food production could reach 10 to 13 trillion cubic metres a year by 2050, the institution said.
This is up to 3.5 times greater than the total amount of fresh water used by humans today, raising the spectre of dangerous water shortages.
This is food that could be used to feed the world’s growing population – as well as those in hunger today.
It is also an unnecessary waste of the land, water and energy resources that were used in the production, processing and distribution of this food.
By 2075 the United Nations predicts that the world’s population will reach around 9.5 billion, resulting in an extra three billion mouths to feed.
Reblogged this on 20 Lines A Day.
Depressing info, sir ! =_=
I know , thats why i posted it
What a staggering figure
especially as you say, given the amount of hungry and starving people. We don’t get bogofs here, or at least not the food I buy. Sometimes there are offers buy two for £3, which generates a measly saving of 10 or fifteen pence on the two purchases so I rarely bother. I did get three bags of ground almonds for the price of two which I thought was well worth it, as a) I use them quite a lot and b) it’s not as though they go off that quickly.
We’re pretty frugal in the food stakes, and of course our Spanish neighbours don’t like waste either so give us their spare veg that they’ve received from relatives.
We would often see some of the local tramps diving into the rubbish bins outside one of the Spanish supermarkets looking for all the food the super had chucked out.
As for appearance’s sake. Hmmm. Fair enough if you are just going to sit and look at an apple (for example) but most of us plan to eat it.
I could get into the issue about crops grown to feed animals instead of gong directly to feed people, but although related (ie water usage, ground usage) it’s a separate discussion, so I will shut up now
Thanks for your comment they are always good.
Supermarket near us clears there stock of goods at their shelf life and skips them, instead of sending them to a food bank.
There is a lesson here…practise birth control.
True Debra, but try telling that to the people of Africa, Asia and so on, they will not listen to you or anyone.
I’m so glad my mother won’t read this. She can’t waste any food. When we were growing up, she would scrape off mold and serve. She grew up in war-torn Paris and knew what it was like to starve. Personally, I think she went a bit overboard with the mold thing, but she sure was never wasteful like so many people are!
It must have been hard for her during the war, we try not to waste for.
It was. That’s what my next book is going to be about…
there is so much insanity. Did you know Harry that if instead of growing ENORMOUS amounts of grain to feed animals raised in factory farming, to produce meat that is expensive…if we used that land to grow a variety of crops we could feed people cheaply and healthily…go figure why we don’t
There must be more money in grain than other crops. Farmers in Europe are getting paid not to grow crops or keep animals , its all crazy.
it is insane…but that’s the world we live in…
Lol – for some reason my post mysteriously disappeared and I had to re-publish it. Try this link instead.
http://paigeaddams.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/my-fantasy-circle-of-five/
Thanks Page left you a comment
Reblogged this on THE RESPONSIBLE CONSUMER and commented:
Wasted food is an issue we don’t talk about enough. Even at the micro level: I watched a women in downtown San Francisco threwing leftovers in the trash while hungry homeless camped across the way.(And water is something else we waste while others don’t have clean water to drink, cook, or wash themselves with. 910 gallons of water are used to make pre-washed jeans.) Thanks to Harry (The Dribbling Pensioner … not) for this look at the macro-level of waste.