Food waste: the problem in the EU in numbers
Some 88 million tonnes of food are wasted in the EU every year, equivalent to 173 kilos per person. Not only is this a waste or resources, it also contributes to climate change.
Food is lost and wasted along the whole supply chain from farms to processing and manufacturing to shops, restaurants and at home. However most of the food in the EU is wasted by households with 53% and processing with 19%.
Consumers are often unaware of the issue or its causes. According to a Eurobarometer survey, date markings on food products is poorly understood, even though nearly six out 10 Europeans say they always check “best before” and “use by” labels.
Why food waste is a problem
Food waste does not only mean that valuable and often scarce resources such as water, soil, and energy are being lost, it also contributes to climate change. According to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), food waste has a global carbon footprint of about 8% of all global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans. For every kilo of food produced, 4.5 kilos of CO2 are released into the atmosphere.
There is also the ethical aspect: FAO says about 793 million people in the world are malnourished. According to Eurostat, 55 million people (9.6% of the EU's population), were unable to afford a quality meal every second day in 2014,.
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