«Preventing nutrient loss & waste across the food system», the new FAO report

Every year more than half of fruits and vegetables globally produced get lost or wasted. A fundamental source of protein, about 25% of all meat produced, the equivalent for 75 million cows, is not consumed. FAO pronounced the warning, saying that urges policy makers «to give priority to reducing food waste as a means of improving access to nutritious and healthy food». Indeed, it is noted in the report “Preventing nutrient loss & waste across the food system: policy actions for high quality diets”, that one death in five is to be associated with poor quality diets.

The report emphasizes that poor quality diets today represent a greater threat to public health than malaria, tuberculosis or measles, while at the same time about one third of all food produced for human consumption never reaches the plate of consumer. The brief was prepared by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The report highlighted that food such as fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, dairy products, meat and fish are rich in nutrients, but they are also highly perishable and therefore susceptible to losses throughout the food system. To address all forms of malnutrition and promote healthy diets, the panel member and FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, explained that «we need to implement food systems that increase the availability, accessibility and consumption of fresh food and nutrient-rich for everyone by taking specific actions to reduce the loss and waste of fresh food and nutritious food». The brief proposes a series of political actions in the whole food system: educating the interested parties; pay attention to perishable foods; improve public and private infrastructure; encourage innovation; bridge the lack of data and knowledge gaps on food waste and waste.

Panel member and President of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Srinath K. Reddy, welcomed the briefing notes and said: «The global group's political actions show how the reduction of losses and food waste can play a key role in improving the poor and inadequate diets of about 3 billion people and are often responsible for the persistent under-nutrition, as well as the increase in overweight and obesity with the consequent increase in non-communicable diseases».

FAO data indicate that in low-income countries food is mostly lost during harvesting, storage, processing and transportation, whereas in high-income countries, the problem is a waste in terms of retailing and consumption. Together, they have a direct impact on the number of calories and nutrients actually available for consumption. The loss and waste of micronutrients represent a particular concern given their direct impact on well-being, learning ability and productivity. Globally, agriculture produces 22% more vitamin A than we require. However, after the loss and waste, the amount available for human consumption is 11% lower than necessary.

«Reducing the loss and waste of nutritious foods - emphasizes the FAO - could therefore produce substantial health benefits and would also provide economic returns, as the value of lost or wasted food is estimated annually in 1 trillion dollars. Eating food already produced would also avoid the waste of water, earth and energy that were used for its production».