University of
Edinburgh
Almost 20 per cent of the food made available to consumers is lost through over-eating or waste, a study suggests.
The world population
consumes around 10 per cent more food than it needs, while almost nine per cent
is thrown away or left to spoil, researchers say.
Efforts to reduce the
billions of tonnes lost could improve global food security -- ensuring everyone
has access to a safe, affordable, nutritious diet -- and help prevent damage to
the environment, the team says.
Scientists at the
University of Edinburgh examined ten key stages in the global food system --
including food consumption and the growing and harvesting of crops -- to
quantify the extent of losses.
Using data collected
primarily by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, the team found that
more food is lost from the system than was previously thought.
Almost half of
harvested crops -- or 2.1 billion tonnes -- are lost through over-consumption,
consumer waste and inefficiencies in production processes, researchers say.
Livestock production is the least efficient process, with losses of 78 per cent or 840 million tonnes, the team found. Some 1.08 billion tonnes of harvested crops are used to produce 240 million tonnes of edible animal products including meat, milk and eggs.
This stage alone
accounts for 40 per cent of all losses of harvested crops, researchers say.
Increased demand for
some foods, particularly meat and dairy products, would decrease the efficiency
of the food system and could make it difficult to feed the world's expanding
population in sustainable ways, researchers say.
Meeting this demand
could cause environmental harm by increasing greenhouse gas emissions,
depleting water supplies and causing loss of biodiversity.
Encouraging people to
eat fewer animal products, reduce waste and not exceed their nutritional needs
could help to reverse these trends, the team says.
The study is published
in the journal Agricultural Systems. It was carried out in
collaboration with Scotland's Rural College, University of York, Karlsruhe
Institute of Technology and the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate
Research.
The research was
funded through a Global Food Security Programme supported by the Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council,
Natural Environment Research Council and the Scottish Government.
Dr. Peter Alexander,
of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences and Scotland's Rural
College, who led the study, said: "Reducing losses from the global food
system would improve food security and help prevent environmental harm. Until
now, it was not known how over-eating impacts on the system. Not only is it
harmful to health, we found that over-eating is bad for the environment and
impairs food security."
Professor Dominic
Moran, of the University of York, who was involved in the study, said:
"This study highlights that food security has production and consumption
dimensions that need to be considered when designing sustainable food systems.
It also highlights that the definition of waste can mean different things to
different people."