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Research papers on Food waste reduction

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  2. Food waste matters - A systematic review of household food waste practices and their policy implications

    Karin Schanes, Karin Dobernig, Burcu Gözet · 2018 · Journal of Cleaner Production · 1,348 citations

    In recent years, food waste has received growing interest from local, national and European policymakers, international organisations, NGOs as well as academics from various disciplinary fields. Increasing concerns about food security and environmental impacts, such as resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions attributed to food waste, have intensified attention to the topic. While food waste occurs in all stages of the food supply chain, private households have been identified as key actors in food waste generation. However, the evidence on why food waste occurs remains scattered. This paper maps the still small but expanding academic territory of consumer food waste by systematically

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  3. The rise of blockchain technology in agriculture and food supply chains

    Andreas Kamilaris, Agusti Fonts, Francesc X. Prenafeta‐Boldú · 2019 · Trends in Food Science & Technology · 1,252 citations

    Blockchain is an emerging digital technology allowing ubiquitous financial transactions among distributed untrusted parties, without the need of intermediaries such as banks. This article examines the impact of blockchain technology in agriculture and food supply chain, presents existing ongoing projects and initiatives, and discusses overall implications, challenges and potential, with a critical view over the maturity of these projects. Our findings indicate that blockchain is a promising technology towards a transparent supply chain of food, with many ongoing initiatives in various food products and food-related issues, but many barriers and challenges still exist, which hinder its wider

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  4. Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action

    Jessica Aschemann‐Witzel, Ilona E. de Hooge, Pegah Amani, et al. · 2015 · Sustainability · 894 citations

    In the past decade, food waste has received increased attention on both academic and societal levels. As a cause of negative economic, environmental and social effects, food waste is considered to be one of the sustainability issues that needs to be addressed. In developed countries, consumers are one of the biggest sources of food waste. To successfully reduce consumer-related food waste, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the factors influencing food waste-related consumer perceptions and behaviors. The present paper presents the results of a literature review and expert interviews on factors causing consumer-related food waste in households and supply chains. Results show th

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  6. Impacts of climate change on the livestock food supply chain; a review of the evidence

    Cécile Godde, Daniel Mason-D’Croz, Dianne Mayberry, et al. · 2021 · Global Food Security · 760 citations

    The potential impacts of climate change on current livestock systems worldwide are a major concern, and yet the topic is covered to a limited extent in global reports such as the ones produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In this article, we review the risk of climate-related impacts along the land-based livestock food supply chain. Although a quantification of the net impacts of climate change on the livestock sector is beyond the reach of our current understanding, there is strong evidence that there will be impacts throughout the supply chain, from farm production to processing operations, storage, transport, retailing and human consumption. The risks of climate-relat

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  7. Understanding Food Loss and Waste—Why Are We Losing and Wasting Food?

    Rovshen Ishangulyyev, Sanghyo Kim, Sang Hyeon Lee · 2019 · Foods · 576 citations

    The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported that approximately one-third of all produced foods (1.3 billion tons of edible food) for human consumption is lost and wasted every year across the entire supply chain. Significant impacts of food loss and waste (FLW) have increased interest in establishing prevention programs around the world. This paper aims to provide an overview of FLW occurrence and prevention. Economic, political, cultural, and socio-demographic drivers of FLW are described, highlighting the global variation. This approach might be particularly helpful for scientists, governors, and policy makers to identify the global variation and to focus on future implications.

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  8. Quantification of food waste per product group along the food supply chain in the European Union: a mass flow analysis

    Carla Caldeira, Valeria De Laurentiis, Sara Corrado, et al. · 2019 · Resources Conservation and Recycling · 495 citations

    In 2015, the United Nations defined the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which include a target (12.3) on food waste. The target requires "by 2030, to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and to reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses". The target has increased awareness about the food waste problem and boosted research in food waste quantification. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies that adopt a systematic approach to account for food waste providing disaggregated values per food supply chain stage and per food groups. Such an approach could support policy makers in prioritizing interventions for food was

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  9. Review: Consumption-stage food waste reduction interventions – What works and how to design better interventions

    Christian Reynolds, Liam Goucher, Tom Quested, et al. · 2019 · Food Policy · 481 citations

    Food waste prevention has become an issue of international concern, with Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 aiming to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels by 2030. However there is no review that has considered the effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing food waste in the consumption stages of the food system. This significant gap, if filled, could help support those working to reduce food waste in the developed world, providing knowledge of what interventions are specifically effective at preventing food waste. This paper fills this gap, identifying and summarizing food-waste prevention interventions at the consumption/consumer stage of the supply c

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  12. Food waste accounting along global and European food supply chains: State of the art and outlook

    Sara Corrado, Serenella Sala · 2018 · Waste Management · 305 citations

    Contributing to environmental pollution and resources depletion, food waste represents a considerable inefficiency of the global food system. Within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, countries committed to halve per-capita food waste generated at retail and consumer levels and to decrease food waste along the food supply chain by 2030. Reliable and detailed information on food waste is of utmost importance for the actors of the food supply chain, organizations and governments willing to implement and monitor effective reduction strategies. The present paper is a review of existing studies on food waste generation at the global and European scales and aims primarily at des

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  13. Food Waste Drivers in Europe, from Identification to Possible Interventions

    Massimo Canali, Pegah Amani, L.H. Aramyan, et al. · 2016 · Sustainability · 235 citations

    The growing volumes of food globally lost or wasted and implications for food security and sustainability have raised the concern of researchers, governments, international organizations and grass-root movements. Much research and experiences investigating food waste causes and drivers focus on one specific segment of the food supply chain and limit the analysis to the situation of one or few countries, while the few studies of wider geographical scope also target other relevant and diversified objectives (e.g., food waste definition, quantification, environmental and economic impacts, and recommendations for interventions). This study, carried out by a network of European institutions invol

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  14. Food waste accounting methodologies: Challenges, opportunities, and further advancements

    S. Corrado, C. Caldeira, Mattias Eriksson, et al. · 2019 · Global Food Security · 205 citations

    About one third of the food produced globally is wasted along the food chain, representing a burden for the environment and an inefficiency of the food system. Tackling food waste is a priority on the global political agenda to guarantee food security. Defining a methodology for food waste quantification is key to monitoring progress towards the achievement of reduction targets. This paper summarises the outcomes of a workshop on food waste accounting co-organised by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and Directorate-General on Health and Food Safety with the aim of stimulating harmonisation of methodologies, identifying challenges, opportunities, and further advancement for foo

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  16. A systems approach to assessing environmental and economic effects of food loss and waste interventions in the United States.

    M. Muth, Cathleen Birney, A. Cuéllar, et al. · 2019 · The Science of the total environment · 112 citations

    Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is critical for achieving healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Within the United States, 30% to 50% of food produced is lost or wasted. These losses occur throughout multiple stages of the food supply chain from production to consumption. Reducing FLW prevents the waste of land, water, energy, and other resources embedded in food and is therefore essential to improving the sustainability of food systems. Despite the increasing number of studies identifying FLW reduction as a societal imperative, we lack the information needed to assess fully the effectiveness of interventions along the supply chain. In this paper, we synthesize the available literat

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  17. Consumers in a Sustainable Food Supply Chain (COSUS): Understanding Consumer Behavior to Encourage Food Waste Reduction

    H. Rohm, M. Oostindjer, J. Aschemann‐Witzel, et al. · 2017 · Foods · 108 citations

    Consumers are directly and indirectly responsible for a significant fraction of food waste which, for a large part, could be avoided if they were willing to accept food that is suboptimal, i.e., food that deviates in sensory characteristics (odd shape, discoloration), or that has a best-before date which is approaching or has passed, but that is still perfectly fine to eat. The choice to accept or discard suboptimal food is taken either before or after purchase (hence, in the retail store or in the household). The aim of the European research project COSUS (Consumers in a sustainable food supply chain) was to increase consumer acceptance of suboptimal food, before and after purchase, by impl

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  18. Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Setting a Global Action Agenda

    Katie Flanagan, K. Robertson, C. Hanson, et al. · 2019 · World Resources Institute · 103 citations

    The world is at a critical moment in the fight against food loss and waste, with momentum building to address the 1.3 billion tons of food that is lost or wasted each year. But action is not yet at a pace needed to achieve SDG Target 12.3 by 2030. The report Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Setting a Global Action Agenda identifies a three-pronged approach to halve food loss and waste by 2030. The report calls on governments, companies, farmers, consumers, and everyone in between to: “Target-Measure-Act”: Set food loss and waste reduction targets, measure to identify hotspots of food loss and waste and monitor progress over time, and take action on the hotspots; pursue a short “to-do” list per

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  19. Reducing Water Scarcity by Reducing Food Loss and Waste

    Landon T. Marston, Q. Read, S. Brown, et al. · 2021 · 34 citations

    Water scarcity is a pervasive threat to society that is expected to intensify alongside a growing and more affluent population and a changing climate. In this paper, we review the existing literature to assess the potential of lessening water scarcity by reducing food loss and waste. Existing studies reveal the scope of food loss and waste and its accompanying impact on water resources, thereby providing a foundation for policy action. We highlight existing or proposed food loss and waste reduction measures and review available evidence concerning their impact on water resources. Our review reveals that there is a deficit of research that can guide specific policy interventions aimed at miti

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  22. Examining Nutrition and Food Waste Trade-offs Using an Obesity Prevention Context.

    Brenna Ellison, M. Prescott · 2021 · Journal of nutrition education and behavior · 21 citations

    Obesity and food waste are related issues, both exacerbated by an overabundance of food. Efforts to reduce food waste can have varying unintended, obesity-related consequences, which further underscores the need for a systems approach to food waste reduction. Yet, these 2 issues are rarely examined together. It is the authors' point of view that for nutrition educators and other public health practitioners to develop interventions that simultaneously address food waste and obesity, they need to understand how actions at the consumer-level may impact waste and its related food system consequences earlier in the supply chain.

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  24. Trade-Off Analyses of Food Loss and Waste Reduction and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Food Supply Chains

    J. Broeze, Xuezhen Guo, H. Axmann · 2023 · Sustainability · 11 citations

    Food losses and waste (FLW) reduction and mitigating climate impact in food chains are priorities in achieving sustainable development goals. However, many FLW-reducing interventions induce additional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, for example, from energy, fuel, or packaging. The net effect of such interventions (expressed in GHG emissions per unit of food available for consumption) is not obvious, as is illustrated in a number of case studies. We recommend that in the decision to take on FLW-reducing interventions, the trade-offs on sustainability impacts (such as GHG emissions) are taken into consideration. Since FLW induce demand and extra operations in all stages along a supply chain,

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