Millions Go Hungry, Yet World Wastes 19% of Food, UN Says
The world wasted an estimated 19% of the food produced globally in 2022, or about 1.05 billion metric tons, according to a new United Nations report.
The UN Environment Programme's Food Waste Index Report tracks the progress of countries to reduce food waste by half by 2030.
The report is co-authored by UNEP and the charity Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Researchers analyzed country data on households, food service and retailers. They found that each person wastes about 79 kilograms of food annually, equal to at least 1 billion meals wasted worldwide daily.
Most of the waste — 60% — came in households. About 28% came from food service, or restaurants, with about 12% from retailers.
The report comes at a time when 783 million people around the world face chronic hunger.
Food waste is also a global concern because of the environmental cost of production, including the land and water required to raise crops and animals and the greenhouse gas emissions it produces.
Food loss and waste generates 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Brian Roe, a food waste researcher at Ohio State University, said the report is important to tackling food waste.
"The key takeaway is that reducing the amount of food that is wasted is an avenue that can lead to many desirable outcomes — resource conservation, fewer environmental damages, greater food security, and more land for uses other than as landfills and food production," said Roe, who wasn't involved in the report.
The report said donating surplus food to food banks and charities — is significant in tackling food waste among retailers.
The report also said that the differences in individual household food waste between high-income and lower-income countries were surprisingly small.
Richard Swannel, a co-author, said that shows food waste "is not a rich world problem. It's a global problem."
"The data is really clear on this point: that here is a problem right around the world and one that we could all tackle tomorrow to save ourselves money and reduce environmental impact," he said.
