scholarly journals Quantities, Determinants, and Awareness of Households’ Food Waste in Italy: A Comparison between Diary and Questionnaires Quantities’

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Giordano ◽  
Fabrizio Alboni ◽  
Luca Falasconi

Food waste at the household level accounts for a significant share of total food waste in developed economies, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Studies have shown that this share varies between 0.3 kg to 4.5 kg per person per week, depending on the definitions and methodologies applied. In Italy, quantities, behaviors, and attitudes regarding food waste have been solely explored through the use of questionnaires, typically leading to discrepant values of food waste. In this study, we estimate and analyse the determinants of food waste over a 388 units’ panel spread over the national territory, through a diary and questionnaire study. Moreover, by comparing food waste value that was declared in questionnaires and reported in diaries, we confirm that the awareness of food waste quantities is heavily biased. The results confirm that the average food waste value is significantly higher when gathered through diaries, while questionnaires are able to catch less than one-third of food waste determinants.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos A Almenara

[THE MANUSCRIPT IS A DRAFT] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2020), food waste and losses comprises nearly 1.3 billion tonnes every year, which equates to around US$ 990 billion worldwide. Ironically, over 820 million people do not have enough food to eat (FAO, 2020). This gap production-consumption puts in evidence the need to reformulate certain practices such as the controversial monocropping (i.e., growing a single crop on the same land on a yearly basis), as well as to improve others such as revenue management through intelligent systems. In this first part of a series of articles, the focus is on the Peruvian anchoveta fish (Engraulis ringens).


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 210
Author(s):  
Carlos Martin-Rios ◽  
Anastasia Hofmann ◽  
Naomi Mackenzie

Food is essential to our survival, yet the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that about 820 million people were undernourished in 2018. In this context, food waste generation is a particularly salient issue. Wasting food means missing opportunities to feed the growing world population and consuming scarce resources, such as land, water and energy used in the production, processing, distribution and consumption of food. Firms in HORECA (hospitality, restaurant and catering) represent a considerable share of total food waste and, more importantly, are characterized by an overall low sense of awareness about the sustainability-oriented innovation opportunities and challenges of minimizing food waste. This article draws on an in-depth case study to explore the use of technological advancements in downstream value chain. This case study draws on a tech startup providing services for HORECA companies to address a new way for companies to solve the food waste challenge. Adopting technological innovations to quantify and minimize wastage via collaborations with third-party companies can be a strategic and cost-effective way to supplement a company’s open innovation activities.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (21) ◽  
pp. 6959
Author(s):  
Anna Kuczuk ◽  
Katarzyna Widera

In line with the assumptions of the European Green Deal, it is planned to allocate 25% of agricultural land to organic farming by 2030. However, the question arises: what share of organic farming and under what additional conditions is it able to feed the population of a given country? The aim of the article is to try to answer the above question for the example of Poland. In particular, the authors analyze: the problem of satisfying people’s nutritional needs, reducing food wastage, and finally the relationship between sustainable consumption and increasing the share of organic farming in Poland. Attention was also paid to possible potential changes in the agricultural land area with the growing share of organic farming. The proposed scenarios for the transition to organic farming concern the year 2030. We propose to increase the share in 20%, 40% and 60%, imposing them on changes in sustainable consumption of +/− 25%, +/− 50% and +/− 75%. The available FAOSTAT (Statistic Data of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and Statistics Poland data from 2008–2018 were used for the analysis. The model scenario analysis showed that the total food demand will be met in most of the scenarios. It has also been shown that with a higher level of transition to organic farming, it becomes necessary to reduce food wastage. Changing the consumption style not only creates opportunities for a wider development of organic farming in Poland but can also generate free areas on arable land (e.g., even more than 26% of free area in the +/− 75% scenario). This may create potential opportunities for their use in the production of consumer crops, but also in the protection of the natural and agricultural environment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. Tahir ◽  
N. Pervez ◽  
J. Nadeem ◽  
A. A. Khan ◽  
Z. Hassan

Abstract According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), roughly one-third of the total food produced is lost globally. The major cause of this wastage is the perishability of fruits and vegetables. Therefore, researchers have endeavored to develop an effective preservation technique. Our study explored the potential application of spider silk as an odourless and edible preservative coating for fruits. The spider silk was collected from spiders reared in the laboratory, following by degumming and dissolution to formulate the silk solution. For this study, apricots were selected as the model fruit. The apricots were dip coated with the formulated silk solution and allowed to dry. In order to enhance the beta sheet content of the silk coating, the fruits were exposed to water annealing for varying intervals of time under vacuum condition. The effect of silk coating and water annealing time period on preservation of fruits was then evaluated morphologically and gravimetrically. The results showed that the fruits, which were used as control, exhibited a greater degree of water loss and suffered from fungal attack. In contrast, the silk coated fruits showed less water loss and were protected from fungal attack. Therefore, the study provides compelling evidence regarding the application of spider silk as a preservative coating.


Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 875
Author(s):  
Petra Nováková ◽  
Tomáš Hák ◽  
Svatava Janoušková

Food waste originating in households in the Czech Republic is an important but unknown issue. Due to the country’s membership among the most developed economies (European Union, OECD) and its commitments towards UN Sustainable Development Goals, the government must, inter alia, significantly reduce household food waste. However, reliable data and indicators based on internationally agreed approaches and methods have been missing so far. This article brings original results from a survey comprising over 400 Czech households based on the kitchen diaries method showing that, on average, surveyed households discarded 2.6 kg (1.1 kg per capita) weekly. After extrapolation, the total food waste was estimated to be 135.7 kg per household or 57.1 kg per capita annually. Half of the total food waste from surveyed households was thrown into municipal bins for mixed waste. Despite a relatively low total food waste stream, its disposal needs substantial improvement to meet national and international regulations as well as sustainability criteria.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Hugo Spieser

In the second half of the 20th century, post-war Europe saw major economic growth due to national reconstructions associated with high employment, industrial mass production and demographic boom. As a consequence, generalised globalisation raised an intensified international flux of goods, services and information. Advancing technology and ever-increasing worldwide goods consumption has led to the age of plastics. Their relatively easy processability and strong physico-chemical properties such as optical, mechanical or barrier properties make them the perfect candidate for many applications in building and construction, automotive, agriculture, electronics, household leisure and sports, appliances, medical furniture and packaging. In 2018, the production of plastic in Europe reached 64.4 million tons and the packaging sector represents the largest sector demands1. The market value of the packaging sector was valued at high as 917 billion US dollar in 2019 and is still rising at an annual growth of 2.8%2.In the packaging industry, the largest part concerns food packaging3 and the overall increasing number and movement of food products however also causes an increasing amount of worldwide food waste. Around one third of the globally produced food is wasted according to the estimations of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations4. This represents 1.2 billion tons per year which seems outrageous as the FAO also estimated in 2018 that around 800 million people were chronically undernourished in the world. Food waste is a important challenge for mankind as the world population is expected to reach 10 billion people in 2050 and feeding all of them is a great challenge.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresia Kaulinawa Shifiona ◽  
Wang Dongyang ◽  
Hu Zhiquan

<p>Cereal grains are the most important source of the world’s total food and staple food for most developing countries. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the Namibian cereal grains by examining trends in annual output, imports and exports as well as consumption volumes for over the period of fifteen years. Due to a variety number of grains being produced and consumed, the main focus is on maize and pearl millet. Data were collected from the Namibian Agronomic Board and from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation Statistical yearbooks for various years. A combination of descriptive statistics has been applied as the method of analysis of the collected data, providing concise summaries about the observations that have been made. The findings show that the production of both maize and pearl millet has increased over the year reviewed due to relative increase in area harvested and yield. Consumption of pearl millet represents one fifth (20%) of the national cereal consumption, while maize represents one third (33%). On average the per capita consumption of maize is around 44kg per year while millet is about 29kg per year. The consumption of both maize and pearl millet rose at an average annual rate higher than the production rate, particularly for maize. To cover deficits between consumption and production, imports become a viable option, especially for maize.</p>


1966 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 646-649 ◽  

Marking the twentieth anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the annual report on the state of food and agriculture reviewed the progress achieved during the second postwar decade, 1954/1955–1964/1965. In his foreword Director-General B. R. Sen noted three distinct phases of FAO's history. In the first, covering the postwar decade, FAO played a role in the task of reconstruction. The second phase, coinciding with the second postwar decade, had been marked by a number of significant developments in science and communications, in demography, and in national aspirations which influenced the outlook and work of FAO. Calling attention to the unprecedented rate of population growth and lagging food supply, FAO had warned that this trend implied a grave peril for the future peace and security of the world. The Freedom from Hunger Campaign launched by FAO in 1960 had represented a response to this new awareness of the dimensions of hunger and malnutrition in the world and of the responsibility of the world community to face the problem. The third phase of FAO's work, opening with the third postwar decade, would be a critical period. Mr. Sen referred to FAO studies, contained in the report, which indicated that the total food supplies of the developing countries would have to be increased fourfold in the next 35 years to give their rapidly expanding populations an adequate diet. The task of FAO, which would depend on the willingness of the leaders of the nations to devote a large share of the world's resources to meet the crisis, would be to assist in laying the foundation for this increase.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra C. Grasso ◽  
Margreet R. Olthof ◽  
Anja J. Boevé ◽  
Corné van Dooren ◽  
Liisa Lähteenmäki ◽  
...  

Food waste generated at the household level represents about half of the total food waste in high-income countries, making consumers a target for food waste reduction strategies. To successfully reduce consumer food waste, it is necessary to have an understanding of factors influencing food waste behaviors (FWB). The objective of this study was to investigate socio-demographic predictors of FWB among consumers in two European countries: Denmark and Spain. Based on a survey involving 1518 Danish and 1511 Spanish consumers, we examined the associations of age, sex, education, marital status, employment status, and household size with FWB. By using structural equation modeling based on confirmatory factor analysis, we created the variable FWB from self-reported food waste and two activities that have been correlated with the amount of food wasted in previous studies: namely, shopping routines and food preparation. Results show that being older, unemployed, and working part-time were associated with less food waste behavior in both countries. In Denmark, being male was associated with more food waste behavior, and living in a household with four or more people was associated with less food waste behavior. These results underscore the modest role of socio-demographic characteristics in predicting food waste behavior in Europe.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 49-60
Author(s):  
Onwusiribe Ndubuisi Chigozirim ◽  
Nto Philips Okore ◽  
Oteh Ogbonnaya Ukeh ◽  
Agwu Nnanna Mba

One of the most important economic factors in food choice is the price. Food dynamics' value is a subject of controversies and opinions, especially price issues, and sensitivity is often peculiar to seasons and market forces. Price dynamics have the potential to introduce and change consumptions, thus affecting household welfare. This study examined the dynamics of food price volatility and households' welfare in Nigeria from 1990: Q1 to 2019: Q4. We sourced the study data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank (WB). We estimated the quadratic trend equation, Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH), and Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) models. Food prices and depth of food deficit had a significant short-run impact on the households' welfare. Policymakers should focus on the short-term benefits while formulating policies aimed at households' welfare because policies aimed at the household level are impactful in the short-run compared to the long-run.


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