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Up to 50% of food is wasted globally: British MPs -Kounteya Sinha
-The Times of India


LONDON: Food wastage is monumental globally, with 30 and 50% of food produced in the world (1.2-2 billion tonnes) is wasted.

British MPs on the International Development Committee placed the country's most exhaustive assessment of food security in parliament on Tuesday and has thrown up some seriously worrying findings. They fear that food wastage globally could be as high as 50%.

Valuable resources of land, energy, fertiliser and water are being consumed by the production of food which ends up as waste.

"Some of this wastage occurs in developing countries as post-harvest losses, primarily due to a lack of technologies and inadequate infrastructure but in high-income countries (HICs) a greater degree of responsibility lies with the food services industry and the consumer. Wastage at household level in the UK remains at the remarkably high rate of 20%," the MPs said.

The MPs have now recommended "that the Government redouble its efforts to reduce the level of food waste in the UK. It should begin by launching consumer campaigns to reduce waste and promote FareShare and similar schemes for unwanted food. The Government should also set targets for food waste reduction for producers and retailers and introduce sanctions for failure to meet the targets." Ironically, while so much food is wasted, incidence of undernutrition is as high as 30% among the world's population.

MPs said under nutrition is profoundly damaging to both physical and mental development. One of the most obvious effects is stunting. In 2010 over 170 million children under the age of five - 26% of all the world's children - suffered from stunting.

Vitamin A deficiency, a consequence of a diet high in rice and low in fruit and vegetables, affects between 100 million and 140 million children worldwide. As a consequence up to 250000 children lose their sight each year, with half of these dying within 12 months.

MPs said "the importance of tackling under nutrition is clear. Under nutrition affects over 30% of the world's population and 26% of all the world's children suffer from stunting. We find this quite shocking and wholly unacceptable. Under nutrition have long-term health implications. More broadly, it also represents a barrier to development. Combating the scourge of under nutrition should be a top priority for the international community". The MPs also warned that the global population, which presently stands at 7.1 billion, is expected to reach 9.3 billion by 2050 with population growth expected to be concentrated amongst the poorest and least food secure countries. This, they say, will have implications both for chronic hunger and for vulnerability to shocks.

The rural-urban profile of the global population is also changing. By 2020, 86% of population growth is expected to occur in large urban centres in developing countries. Urbanisation raises a number of issues for food security. The MPs said the global population continues to increase, and food production is expected to have to increase by 60-70% by 2050.