Food Waste(d)

Food waste throughout our food chain, where it starts and where it ends

Food Waste evolves through the production and processing, the distribution, the preparation, and consumption of food. This means food waste is everywhere along our food chain, and many of us are part of the problem but can also help to reduce food waste and solve the problem in a better, faster and more efficient way.

Food waste starts already with the farmers / producers of many basic ingredients, such as fruits, vegetables, pulses and grains. Due to monotype non diverse agricultural practices, influenced with many different increasing external factors such as insect plagues, severe climate changes and weather changes such as drought, flooding and fires, food waste already starts where food products itself start.

Some parts of our general crops are, because of these natural impacts and factors, not up to the expectations of our modern food industry and therefore have to stay with the farmers and producers. These parts of the crops are wasted, as the farmers are not able to sell them to the food industry. Only a very small part of these wasted crops, or so called ugly vegetables, are sold to end consumers on farmers markets. The rest of these wasted crops are left on the fields and are plowed into the soil again as fertiliser

The impeccable and faultless crops who do make their way into the processing procedures of the food industry are used for wholesale or as parts for processed industrial foods.

On their route for wholesale many of these crops make long journeys, even around the world, and during these long journeys another part of these crops will not make it in their original impeccable way to the end consumer, so another part of these original crops get wasted. this way. Crops used for industrial processed foods are very often also not used to their complete capacity and also get partly wasted on their way to the consumer.

Thinking about all these factors along our food chain the size of the original crop gets wasted for a big part already before they even end up with the final consumer or in our supermarkets.

The next part of our journey of wasted foods then happen in the supermarkets with those produce not sold within the "use by date", these produce then get discarded by the supermarkets.

So nowadays, basically even before food and food produce reach us, the end consumers, a big part is already wasted compared to the original amount of the crop. Does this make sense, thats what everyone of us should ask him or her self, think about it, Knowing all this, maybe this makes it easier to understand why many foods are also quite expensive, as all participants along this food chain want to profit somehow financially and want to get paid for their food waste along the chain.

It would definitely make sense for us as end consumers to use the complete food we purchase to make sure that the food waste stops at the supermarket.

"Wrong Thinking"

Mainly in our western world another 30% of the food we do purchase for personal use in our households is wasted on top of the already big amount wasted from Field to shop.

We as consumers either buy more than we need, cook too big portions or are driven by spontaneous purchases of foods we actually don't need or plan to use.

I do understand this, as it also happened to me as well, but looking into this complete food road from field to my dinner, this should make each and everyone of us start thinking about food waste and how we can support to reduce this unnecessary waste.

I don't want to advice you now how you can support the reduction of food waste, i believe everyone is clever enough to see the problem, and I also believe that everyone can be part of the solution.

Please also take into consideration the knowledge that all around the world many people are still starving and don't even have enough food to survive , as we in our western world in the same time are wasting so much food.

In the same time with the wasting of so much food we are also increasing green gas emissions and are part of the worlds climate change. The consequences of this climate change are therefore again responsible for many increasing natural catastrophes as we have seen in Europe already this summer, droughts, flooding and fires, and there we are again at the beginning of our food chain with decreasing crops due to these factors. Its a circle that will be difficult to break out of, and will get even more difficult to break knowing that our world population is still rapidly increasing. We still have time to do something, therefore it is so important to follow and support the sustainable development goals, set up by the UN.

We don't have much time left, but al together we still have the chance to turn this around

let's start straight away.

In the following upcoming blogs published on my Qulinarix homepage i will help you with some easy and simple ideas to start thinking more sustainable and to reduce food waste starting in your own home and environment, lets not wait and start now.