According to Carlo Petrini, “There is food for everyone on this planet, but not everyone eats”.
NOTE: (i) There is food for everyone.
(ii) Not everyone eats.
The question is WHY? There is food for everyone yet not everyone eats. The world produces enough food to keep everyone alive today, well fed. According to Food and Agriculture Organization, we have enough food to feed 10 billion, with the world population today as of July 2020, 7.8 billion so there is food for everyone.
However, this food does not get to everyone because of the wasteful behavior of some, so not everyone eat because of wasteful behaviors. This shows that food wastage is one of the biggest problems facing mankind today because it depict hunger among people since there is availability of food yet scarcity due to our wasteful behavior. Food wastage, in a lame man definition is an act of wasting food. According to FAO, 2013 food wastage refers to any food lost by deterioration or waste which can probably occur during industrial processing, distribution and consumption. Globally, nearly one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, equating a total of 1.3 billion tonnes of food per year.
Causes of food wastage
There are several causes of food wastage, the common causes include;
- Inadequate planning: One of the major causes of food wastage is lack of appropriate planning especially on the consumer part. It is known as impulse buying , sometimes people buy lot of food items without making plans, which makes most food end up in the waste bin in our homes and restaurants
- Errors in industrial processing: Most industries do not have food recycling unit where waste food product can be recycled during industrial processing due to error e.g. recipe trials, packaging defects and so on. This can lead to food wastage during processing in industries.
- Improper sales/demand forecasts: Food wastage is common among distributors i.e suppliers and retailers) due to the fact that food suppliers/retailers cannot dictate or predict customer behavior. Sometimes retailer or supplier might overstock, thinking of selling all products but reverse is the case a times leading to leftover of food products if not properly preserved or stored can lead to food wastage due to spoilage, some products also exceed their best before dates on manufacturer’s or supplier’s shelf.
Effects of food wastage
- Research has it that food wastes from our homes and industries is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases which further aggravates climate change and global warming.
- Food scarcity: Common cause of hunger
- Waste of human effort: The time spent by individuals working in the field, picking, packing, transporting and distributing food is wasted when we waste food.
And lot more……………………
Although the rate at which food wastage globally may seem overwhelming, it can be curbed by understanding food preservation and food recycling. Food preservation can be defined as the process of treating and handling food in such a way as to stop or greatly slow down spoilage while food recycling is a process of converting food waste into useful materials and products for achieving sustainability of the environment. The proper knowledge of these two terms can help prevent food wastage globally. Considering the importance of food preservation in order to reduce or prevent the chances of food spoilage and wastage. Here, various traditional as well as modern methods used for food preservation have been described.
- Drying: This is one of the traditional techniques where moisture contents from the foodstuff are removed at much higher temperature under hot conditions using sun or oven drying method. It is commonly done for vegetables, spices, herbs, grains etc.
- Curing: The basic concept in curing of foods like meat, fishes and vegetables is to reduce the moisture contents by osmosis process. When moisture contents in any food are much low, there are much lesser chances of getting microbial infection and subsequently growth, this prevent the food item from spoiling thereby prevent food wastage. It is done by adding salt, nitrates, sugar, nitrites in combinations which are capable of dehydrating the food. Higher salt used for curing also dehydrates bacteria resulting in their killing.
- Freezing: Freezing food at temperatures ranging from minus 10°C to minus 80°C for long term storage is much common technique at the commercial scale as well as at homes. Under the freezing condition, microbes generally do not survive, and if any already existing microbe survived, it will not multiply. Almost in all the countries, cold stores are used for long term storage of fruits, vegetables and many other foodstuffs.
- Boiling: It is a traditional way especially in developing countries to boil water in order to kill microbes if any in it, and thereafter, it is cooled to room temperature before drinking. It is also customary to boil milk before drinking (even pasteurized milk) in order to kill the microbes if any
- Pickling: There are many customary ways including immersing foodstuff in vinegar or vegetable oil, or anaerobic fermentation by which lifespan of food is increased and this process is called pickling. This method changes the texture, flavor and taste of the food and preserved stuff is generally called as pickle. Anaerobic fermentation (storing in vinegar) of vegetables and fruits such as mangoes, radish and carrots is also commonly used. Under fermentation conditions, there is production of organic acids like lactic acid, acetic acid which act as preservative agents. Under the conditions, there is killing of bacteria and other microbes which help reduce food wastage at homes and restaurants
- Canning: The process of canning for extending the shelf life of foodstuffs was discovered by Nicolas Appert, a French confectioner in early nineteenth century. The process involves cooking of the food, and thereafter sealing it in sterilized jars or cans, and boiling the containers for sterilization. Under the conditions, there is killing or weakening of any remaining microbe. The process could not be popular until 1864 when Louis Pasteur showed the relationship between the food spoilage and microbes, and subsequently illness .It has been shown that different foodstuffs have natural protection against spoilage, however to different degrees. High acid foodstuffs such as strawberries do not need any preservative for canning and only boiling for a little time is sufficient. On the other hand, many other foodstuffs such as carrots need longer boiling and one has to add acidic preservative such as citric acid. Foodstuffs with low acid constituents such as vegetables and meats need pressure canning. However, canned foodstuffs are spoiled within a short span of time after opening the can or bottle.
- Pasteurization: Even today, traditional way of heating a foodstuff to a temperature capable of killing microbes is used. In the market, milk is generally sold in sealed packets or jars after pasteurization.
- Freeze drying: This is one of the modern techniques where moisture contents from the foodstuff are removed at much lower temperature under frozen conditions using vacuum.
- Vacuum packing: In this technique, foodstuff is put in a plastic film bag and vacuum is created inside the bag by sucking air using a vacuum pump before sealing the bag. Under the conditions, microbes do not grow since they require oxygen for survival. This technique is mostly used for packing nuts since it keeps them fresh without losing flavor from oxidation.
- Chemical food preservatives: In processed foods, anti-microbial chemical agents are added to preserve them. These agents are added in smaller amount since these are mostly toxic when consumed in larger amount. Common preservatives are benzoic acid and benzoates which are used in acidic foods such as jams, salad dressing, juices, pickles, carbonated drinks, soy sauce among others. Sorbic acid and sorbates are used as preservatives in cheese, wine and baked foods among others. Nitrites and nitrates are used as preservatives in meats to prevent botulism toxin. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites are used in fruits and wine. Similarly, propionic acid and propionates are used in baked foods
- Pascalization: In this technique, foodstuff is pressed inside a vessel exerting very high pressure to the tune of 70,000 lb per square inch. This technique is good since foodstuffs retain their freshness, flavour, texture and nutrients with destruction of microbes. Following this technique, there is much slower rate of spoilage of foodstuffs.
Recycling food waste can help prevent food wastage at various levels of the food system;
- Compost the kitchen and garden scrap: food waste from kitchen and garden can be used for making compost; compost is an organic matter that has been decomposed. This process recycles various organic materials otherwise regarded as waste products and produces a soil conditioner; they are rich in nutrients that enrich the soil.
- Donate waste for animal feed: Several recycling firm are coming up with innovative ways to recycle waste fruits, vegetables and bakery scrap from stores, household and food industries to produce a nutritious animal feed.
- Convert food scrape into biogas: Anaerobic digestion uses microorganisms to degrade the organic matter in the food waste to produce methane that can be used to generate electricity, fuel for transportation and heat.
World hunger is on the rise, despite the work of people and organizations to tackle this problem. The global expenditure to make worldwide access to food possible reaches into billions of dollars, by looking at this problem, one could easily conclude that there is food shortage and scarcity. But that is not the case. The problem is food wastage. Food wastage occurs at the various levels of the food system, namely farming, processing, transporting, retailing, cooking and consuming. Proper food preservation and recycling will reduce wastage of food across the globe.
Olayinka .O. Aladesanmi.
REFERENCES
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