Food wastage Throughout the world By: Nikita Varandani

How much food? The world wastes an incredible amount of food every year — 2.9 trillion pounds to be exact, according to the United Nations (Business Insider). To put that in perspective, that's the same weight as about 120.8 million elephants, 36.2 million 18-wheelers, or 7.2 million blue whales.

http://www. businessinsider http://www.businessinsider.com/which-parts-of-the-world-waste-the-most-food-2016-3

Who’s to blame? 1) Most of the wasted food comes from households: food left to spoil or expire, or thrown away before it's even bad because we only want to eat the "freshest" produce. 2) Cooked food is also thrown out because too much was made and families don’t want to eat leftovers (The Daily Meal). 3) The hospitality industry: hotels, catering and restaurant businesses have record high food wastage numbers, particularly in European countries like Finland and Norway. (World Economic Forum). 4) In North America, around 30% percent of fruits and vegetables supplied to supermarkets is tossed out because they are thought to be "not attractive enough" for consumers ( bruised, scratched or not glossy or colorful enough) (The Daily Meal).

https://www. thechicagocouncil https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/blog/global-food-thought/healthy-food-healthy-world-wasted-food-wasted-nutrients Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Impact on the environment  The carbon footprint of wasted food is estimated at 3.3 gigatones!! (World Economic Forum).  If food waste were a country, it would rank behind only the US and China for greenhouse gas emissions. This contributes to global warming and climate change (FAO). The production of wasted food also uses around 1.4 billion hectares of land – 28% of the world’s agricultural area. (WE Forum). A huge amount of surface or groundwater – known as “blue water” – is also lost

WOW Even if just 1/4 of the food currently lost or wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people in the world (FAO).

How can YOU help? DO NOT discriminate fruits and vegetables based on appearance! The inside is what matters  Cook the right amount of food so there are no leftovers or they aren’t thrown out. Be smart! Use vegetables/fruits before they rot (FAO).