Half Of All Food Produced Is 'Thrown Away'

[Etherios]

Amazingly sad and pathetic ... is the current state of our societies.

We are brainwashed since birth to accept and love consumerism and that there are too many people on the planet. We wont survive with what we produce now.

Millions are dieing of hunger etc etc ... i can fill up page and pages of these and then ...


Half Of All Food Produced Is 'Thrown Away' (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/half-food-produced-thrown-away-040310569.html)

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As much as half of all the food produced in the world - two billion tonnes worth - ends up being thrown away, a new report claims.

The waste is caused by poor infrastructure and storage facilities, over-strict sell-by dates, "get-one-free" offers, and consumer fussiness, according to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers .

Each year countries around the world produce some four billion tonnes of food.

But between 30% and 50% of this total, amounting to 1.2 to 2 billion tonnes, never gets eaten, says the report Global Food; Waste Not, Want Not.

In the UK, up to 30% of vegetable crops are not harvested because their physical appearance fails to meet the exacting demands of consumers.

Half the food purchased in Europe and the US is thrown away after it is bought, the report adds.

Vast quantities of water are also wasted in global food production, it is claimed.

Around 550 billion cubic metres of water is used to grow crops that never reach the consumer, according to the report.

Producing one kilogram of meat is also said to take 20 to 50 times more water than producing the same weight of vegetables.

The demand for water in food production could reach 10 to 13 trillion cubic metres a year by 2050, the institution said.

This is up to 3.5 times greater than the total amount of fresh water used by humans today, raising the spectre of dangerous water shortages.

Dr Tim Fox, head of energy and environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: "The amount of food wasted and lost around the world is staggering.

"This is food that could be used to feed the world's growing population - as well as those in hunger today.

"It is also an unnecessary waste of the land, water and energy resources that were used in the production, processing and distribution of this food."

He blamed the situation on poor engineering and agricultural practices, inadequate transport and storage infrastructure, and supermarkets demanding cosmetically perfect foodstuffs and encouraging consumers to overbuy through buy-one-get-one free offers.

By 2075 the United Nations predicts that the world's population will reach around 9.5 billion, resulting in an extra three billion mouths to feed.

Added stresses on the ability of the world to feed itself include global warming and the growing popularity of meat, which requires around 10 times more resources than staple plant foods such as rice or potatoes.

Dr Fox called on governments, development agencies and organisations like the UN to "work together to help change people's mindsets on waste and discourage wasteful practices by farmers, food producers, supermarkets and consumers".

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What do you know ...its not that we are too many ... OMG .. its that what they teach us is wrong ...

Then again this report tries to blame silly little things like storage and transportation. But global trading is the way to go the last century. They dont like us to eat local ... we have to move food from the other side of the planet so we can have good export.

I gave the article to many pf the people i know ... their reply was incopetent governments and greedy population ... o.O. They still dont see it do they ...

[Lifebringer]

Yep and yet there are people starving around the world. It's not just sad and pathetic, it's just plain stupid. The pantries always near empty in this economy and they can't get paid for the food so they don't give it to people who need it. If all restaurants would just have a set time in the back of the restaurant where the homeless can show up after breakfast, lunch or dinner, there wouldn't be so many hungry people in the world. Those same people can work if they apply and it's not like they don't need the job. Employers would be wise to try and employ them, sometimes that's all they need in life again, a purpose to contribute. Free meals and minimum wage can go a long way, and end the high food stamp roles. Why or why do they sit back and watch this sick drama of starving the poor, when so much can be done. Caring goes a long way, and most see crime before it occurs, by being victimized by criminals.

[DeDukshyn]

My kids' mother works in a fairly big name grocery store. She is absolutely sickened by the amount of food that gets thrown out every day. The worst part is is that 90% of the food chucked out is still very useful at that point, but due to the excessive fear of risk of potential lawsuit of someone getting sick from eating "outdated" food, none of it is used for anything other than the trash bin. They will not give the food to charities or homeless or other organizations that could actually use it.

Now in a smart world you'd have the nurseries, gardens and greenhouses close to the grocery store (that would contain meat cutters and bakery), restaurants and markets nearby, and food supply services for the needy all under the same operational umbrella. Any food items that cannot be used within this chain will be composted (except the meat of course), to be fed back into the gardens and greenhouses. Pretty smart eh? My six year old just told me that. ;) (I'm kidding, but a six year old could figure that out ... lol, not very hard).

Humans are desperately stupid due to their excessively programmed greed and "consumptionistic" ways. How long will it be before we start holding people to their obviously lack of vision driven stupidity?

[jjjones]

pa friends, this is beyond disgusting! there is more than plenty for everyone including the animals on this planet. it is about greed,control and materialism. NOT ABOUT UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. take care my friends. namaste, peace and love universally :)

[modwiz]

Feeding hungry people is not the concern of agribusiness. Getting paid to produce it is. All concerns are towards that end only. When a GM CEO was asked during the '90's, IIRC, what he had to say about the perception that the Japanese made better cars, he replied, "We're not in the business of making cars, we're in the business of making money." I guess he just needed some love and white light sent his way. :rolleyes::p

[meat suit]

:crazy:its amazing how different attitudes are towards food, in my family most things are organic or selfgrown, we waste nothing...
we were over for a large dinner at some friends last week, great meal... and afterwards the host collected all the potatoes and veg that werent eaten on a plate.... i presumed to go in the fridge and make a great fry up for somebody tomorrow... but no...bang:der: in the compost bin (luckyly not the trash at least) it went... I nearly had a heart attack... wtf.. its like we just ate that food 5 minutes earlier...

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

thanks for this thread!

as someone who has worked in a grocery store, i can back up at least some of what that says.

they threw away at least 1/3 of the deli every few days.

UNREAL!!!!!!!!!!!

and people don't have food still.

[778 neighbour of some guy]

As much as half of all the food produced in the world - two billion tonnes worth - ends up being thrown away, a new report claims.

Thats a real shame, picture that on one big steaming pile of compost, soil depletion problem solved, if only, sigh.


In the UK, up to 30% of vegetable crops are not harvested because their physical appearance fails to meet the exacting demands of consumers.

They can squeeze enough raw juice of of that to drown the entire UK population, raw juice of course, lets drown them the RIGHT WAY. Inventing a massive masticating slow juicer that juices fresh on the spot while harvesting will make you filthy rich, so who up for that eh, ghehehe.


Vast quantities of water are also wasted in global food production, it is claimed.

Dont they know about this!!!

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or this, saves water.

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or this, saves water.

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This is up to 3.5 times greater than the total amount of fresh water used by humans today, raising the spectre of dangerous water shortages.

The waste is a scandal, we are however a waterplanet and desalination is a pretty good way to go in urbanised coastal areas ( should be around two billion people give or take), that should make a nice start, stop wasting what we allready have should be done at the same time.


The demand for water in food production could reach 10 to 13 trillion cubic metres a year by 2050, the institution said.

Ony when we continue the way we grow foods know, see above videos to get around that problem, container gardening or gutter gardening or hydroponics also solve these issues for the larger part and it can be done on a massive scale( allready being implemented, check out utube) only one 10th of the water will be needed in that case since nothing gets wicked down through the soil and is lost.


"It is also an unnecessary waste of the land, water and energy resources that were used in the production, processing and distribution of this food."

Going and growing and shopping local is the way to go, when done with common sense, this could solve all three problems, production, processing as wel as distribution.


By 2075 the United Nations predicts that the world's population will reach around 9.5 billion, resulting in an extra three billion mouths to feed.

Well when they start saying there is not enough to go around, we can tell them they are lying and show them the OP statistics on wasted produce.

Free energy will solve a lot, free transport will sure make things easier, creating free food forests too, kills the whole need for transport too, stroll through the park with your shopping bag/basket and pick away. Now where is that town/village in the UK that grows food everywhere, just for picking??


Added stresses on the ability of the world to feed itself include global warming and the growing popularity of meat, which requires around 10 times more resources than staple plant foods such as rice or potatoes.

Stop smoking weed, start eating hemp seeds, eat grass( drinking it is better)serious, not kidding, great sources of minerals, proteins, fatty acids and vitamins, and this **** grows everywhere, absolutely anywhere you sow it. ( turns your turds green though, thats the better grassy knowl conspiracy, right there for you, before you know it we will be living in pootopia), a bit of a paradigm shift is needed though, will take some time.


Dr Fox called on governments, development agencies and organisations like the UN to "work together to help change people's mindsets on waste and discourage wasteful practices by farmers, food producers, supermarkets and consumers"

Give the people some free time, some buckets and a garden and cut out all those middlemen, timeconsuming bureaucracy will kill us before they can make a decision.

Such a shame, we could be doing pretty frigging good allready.

[mosquito]

Very very sad, and you have to wonder whether we really are intelligent beings.

I dread to think how much food is wasted in this neck of the woods; it seems to be part of the culture to serve up huge amounts, way out of proportion to the number of people eating. I believe I'm also right in saying that the Chinese, and possible others, believe it good manners to leave a certain amount, totally unlike the "clean plate" ethos in the West.