What Is Food Wastage In India?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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As per the Food Waste Index Report 2021, a staggering 50 kg of food is thrown away per person every year in Indian homes. This excess food waste usually ends up in landfills, creating potent greenhouse gases which have dire environmental implications.

What causes food wastage in India?

The major contributors to food waste in the supply chain are processing waste, lack of cold-storage facilities, process contamination, improper packaging, transportation losses , higher inventory due to poor forecasts (Papargyropoulou et al., 2014).

What is the meaning of wastage of food?

Food wastage refers to any food lost by deterioration or waste . Thus, the term “wastage” encompasses both food loss and food waste.” (

How much food is wasted in India in a day?

– On an average, 18.7 kgs of food was disposed off by one Safal outlet daily. This suggests that an estimated 7.5 tonnes of food is discarded daily across the 400 Safal outlets in Delhi.

What are the reason for wastage of food?

Food is lost or wasted for a variety of reasons: bad weather, processing problems, overproduction and unstable markets cause food loss long before it arrives in a grocery store, while overbuying, poor planning and confusion over labels and safety contribute to food waste at stores and in homes.

What are examples of food waste?

Food waste refers to food such as plate waste (i.e., food that has been served but not eaten), spoiled food, or peels and rinds considered inedible that is sent to feed animals, to be composted or anaerobically digested, or to be landfilled or combusted with energy recovery.

What are the problems of food waste?

Wasting food is bad for the environment – including the climate . We waste about a third of all food produced for human consumption. This wasted food has taken loads of fresh water, land and labour to produce. If it were a country, food waste would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases [PDF] in the world.

What are the 5 steps to reduce food waste?

  • Don’t over buy. Keep track of what you’ve bought and used. ...
  • Check the use-by dates of fresh food when you buy it. These are the dates to take notice of, rather than the best-before dates. ...
  • Plan ahead. ...
  • Get to know your grocer. ...
  • Love your freezer.

Which country wastes the most food?

Although China and India produce the most household food waste every year, the average volume produced per capita in these countries is less than 70 kilograms. In comparison, people in Australia produce 102 kilograms of food waste every year on average.

How can we reduce food waste?

  1. Avoid buying too much. ...
  2. Think twice before throwing food away. ...
  3. Always make a shopping list. ...
  4. Organizing the kitchen with FIFO. ...
  5. Store food correctly. ...
  6. Make a weekly menu. ...
  7. Keep a log of spoiled foods. ...
  8. Freeze extras.

How much food do Indians waste?

A Food Waste Index 2021 report shows that we wasted 931 million tonnes of food in 2019, with 61 percent coming from households, 26 percent from food services, and 13 percent from retail; Indians wasted 50 kg food per capita on an annual basis.

What percentage of food is wasted in India?

Nearly 40 per cent of the food produced in India is wasted every year due to fragmented food systems and inefficient supply chains — a figure estimated by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). This is the loss that occurs even before the food reaches the consumer.

Is Indian food secure?

India’s Food Insecurity as per SOFI

SOFI Report 2021: According to the data presented in the report, the prevalence of moderate to severe food insecurity in India rose by about 6.8 percentage points in 2018-20.

What is the main reason of wastage in education?

Causes of Wastage and Stagnation. 1. Socio-economic – Poverty, inequality of sexes, illiteracy, rampant superstitions, conservative attitudes are some of the main causes for drop-outs. Paucity of funds and their improper distribution also aggravate the problem as higher classes may not be added to the school.

What are the top 3 types of food waste?

  • #1 Bread. Over 240 million slices of bread are chucked away every year. ...
  • #2 Milk. Around 5.9 million glasses of milk are poured down the sink every year, but it’s so easy to use it up. ...
  • #3 Potatoes. We discard 5.8 million potatoes each year. ...
  • #4 Cheese. ...
  • #5 Apples.

What food wastes most?

Potatoes, bread slices and apples are respectively the most wasted foods by quantity, while salads are thrown away in the greatest proportion.

Emily Lee
Author
Emily Lee
Emily Lee is a freelance writer and artist based in New York City. She’s an accomplished writer with a deep passion for the arts, and brings a unique perspective to the world of entertainment. Emily has written about art, entertainment, and pop culture.