A third of all food wasted says UN report

(Vatican Radio) Food waste in the world accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than any country except for China and the United States. That was one of the findings of a United Nations report published on Wednesday.
The document compiled by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and entitled “The Food Wastage Footprint", shows that a third of all food for human consumption, that is, around, 1.3 billion tonnes, is wasted.
FAO also estimates that the carbon footprint of wasted food was equivalent to 3.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and based on producer prices the estimated cost of the wasted food, is about $750 billion a year.
Environment and sustainable Development officer at FAO, is Mathilde Iweins and Sustainable Development Officer for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
“Almost 30% of the total overall agriculture land area is used to produce food that is finally wasted, this represents an enormous area. It’s the equivalent of China plus Mongolia plus Kazakhstan.”

The issue of food wastage has also been highlighted by Pope Francis. In remarks in June of this year he said, “Consumerism has led us to become used to an excess and daily waste of food, to which, at times we are no longer able to give a just value. “Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of the poor and the hungry,”.
In order to combat food waste the UN agency suggests a number of ways this can be done including, improving communication between producers and consumers to manage the supply chain more efficiently.
It also says businesses should give surplus food to charities, and develop alternatives to dumping organic waste in landfill. Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report