Food waste or food loss is food material that is discarded or unable to be used. Various political organisations and entities have their own definition of what constitutes food waste. The causes of wasted food are numerous, and occur at the stages of production, processing, and retailing.
As of 2011, 1.3 billion tons of food, about one third of the global food production, are lost or wasted annually.[1] Loss and wastage occurs on all steps in the food . In low-income countries, most loss occurs during production, while in developed countries much food – about 100 kilograms (220 lb) per person and year – is wasted at the consumption stage.[1]
Contents
* 1 Definition * 1.1 United Nations * 1.2 European Union * 1.3 United States * 2 Causes * 2.1 Production * 2.2 Food processing * 2.3 Retail * 3 Extent * 3.1 Global extent * 3.2 Individual countries * 3.2.1 New Zealand * 3.2.2 United Kingdom * 3.2.3 United States * 4 Response * 4.1 Prevention * 4.2 Collection * 4.3 Dumpster diving * 4.4 Animal feed * 4.5 Disposal * 5 See also * 6 References * 7 Further reading * 8 External links
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Definition[edit source | editbeta]
The definition of waste is a contended subject, often defined on a situational basis; this also applies to food waste.[2] Professional bodies, including international organizations, state governments and secretariats may use their own definitions.[3]
Definitions of food waste vary, among other things, in what food waste consists of,[4] how it is produced,[5] and where or what it is discarded from or generated by.[4] Definitions also vary because certain groups do not consider (or have traditionally not considered) food waste to be a waste material, due to its applications.[6][7] Some definitions of what food waste consists of are based on