Everyone has something to gain by preventing food waste

Everyone has something to gain by preventing food waste - from farmers, to shopkeepers and us, the consumers. Everyone except those worms in the compost bin, maybe.

By Lisa Rumsey

I love cooking, creating delicious nourishing dishes. I like trying new ingredients whilst eating seasonally. I shop at the weekly markets and buy some organic products and local when I can. I’m mostly vegetarian, but eat occasional meat and fish. Why am I interested in food waste?

Last year I became the proud owner of a compost bin for the garden, via the compostage initiative run by ‘communauté d’agglomération Saint Germain Boucles de Seine’ (highly recommended by the way - google their site for details of how to get your own!). And ever since then, I have been keenly aware of the food I throw away.

Most of the time it is just my husband and I at home, so our fridge is much emptier than when we had school-age children. I would say that I’m pretty good at writing a shopping list and planning meals but I was still struck how, along with the carrot peelings and apple cores, there would also be an occasional forgotten cucumber, turned sad and slimy, or a browning wedge of cabbage, a dried out zested orange or some green beans, too many for that days meal, earmarked for a salad, but ultimately left, forgotten in the veggie drawer.

It made me think about the food we buy, what we cook and eat, and what we throw away.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year gets lost or wasted. Here are some of the other points made by them:

• global quantitative food losses and waste per year are roughly 30% for cereals, 40-50% for root crops, fruits and vegetables, 20% for oil seeds, meat and dairy plus 35% for fish, fruits and vegetables have the highest wastage rates of any food.

• in industrialised countries, more than 40% of losses happen at retail and consumer levels. At retail level, large quantities of food are wasted due to quality standards that over-emphasise appearance.

• even if just one quarter of the food currently lost or wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people in the world. Reducing food waste is regarded by many experts as one of the leading strategies for achieving a sustainable food future for our planet.

• food loss and waste cause unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions, which along with inefficient use of water and land, can greatly impact natural ecosystems.

France is seen as a global pioneer in reducing food waste. The government took action in 2016 with legislation obliging large supermarkets to donate food nearing its expiry date to food banks and other charitable organisations, in order to avoid paying a fine. Education in schools about food sustainability, including food waste statistics in company reports and making ‘doggy bags’ available in restaurants were also new requirements. France has become very proactive in relation to other countries of the world and was awarded top place in the Economist’s 2017 Food Sustainability Index, a survey of 25 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas.

It is still estimated that in France, each person, on average throws away 29kg of food that is still edible per year, which is the equivalent of one meal per week.

Whilst I don’t think that exalting you to take leftovers for lunch or to check what is in your fridge before planning a weekly menu and shopping accordingly, is going to end world hunger, I do think that raising awareness, simply addressing the issue, can change behaviours in a small way that may have a huge impact ultimately.

There has been a huge shift in consciousness about plastics, and their impact on our oceans and ecosystems in recent years. It has become increasingly common to see notices in restaurants and cafés explaining that single use plastic straws are no longer provided. Legislation went through only this month to ban single-use plastic cutlery and disposable tableware by 2020. An awareness that unless action is taken then our oceans will suffer irreparably, has become part of the collective consciousness.

In the same way, food waste should be part of the conversation in our communities. Everyone has something to gain by preventing food waste - from farmers, to shopkeepers and us, the consumers. Everyone except those worms in the compost bin, maybe.

Lisa Rumsey worked for over 20 years as a medical practitioner, in both UK and in France.
An assignment in Singapore from 2010-2015 allowed her to pursue her other great passion, cooking.
She worked there both as a food writer for a magazine and a cookery teacher, specialising in gluten free baking.
She now lives in Le Mesnil le Roi and is contributing a regular weekly recipe to Autour de Toi on the theme of food waste.