29th September: International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
In Romania, we throw away each day about 6,000 tonnes of food. Every year, we throw away about 100,000 truckloads of food, food that:
• It has a negative impact on our budget. As a nation, 26% of our total consumer spending is on food, about 12 percent above the European average. By wasting food, we are throwing a good part of our income in the trash bin.
• It has an impact on the environment. Around 69% of the planet’s freshwater resources are used in agriculture. The use of pesticides and fertilisers also contributes to water, soil, and air pollution. Thus, we should respect food and be responsible when we buy, prepare, or dispose of it.
• It could feed the underprivileged population and reduce existing social disparities. Over 150,000 Romanian children go to bed hungry. Let’s think about what these 6,000 tons of food wasted every day mean in solving this problem.
The highest food waste in the whole food chain occurs in households – 49%, followed by the food industry – 37%, retail – 7%, public catering – 5% and agriculture – 2%.
Every year, the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste is celebrated on 29th of September to draw attention to the need to change the way food is produced and consumed. This year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has created a series of information materials for consumers, to help them prevent food waste, which you can see below. Also, for more tips and advice on preventing food waste, please visit:
- The “sincerely, food” project aims to raise consumer awareness about food waste and offers games to introduce the issue and educate children to become responsible consumers.
- The “Food Waste Combat” project – an army of enthusiastic people from Cluj who are fighting against food waste and have created a series of very interesting visual materials to educate consumers.
- • Blog “Red Ideas” – Oana describes gastronomic initiatives but also shows ways to introduce sustainability in gastronomy. You can find more information about food waste here and here.
- • MARD – Publications and information materials: information videos produced by InfoCons and other documents on food waste.
At the same time, the need to find solutions to food waste in the HoReCa sector is becoming more and more evident. According to a study conducted by Edenred, 73% of restaurants in Romania face food waste.
One of the objectives of our participation in the FoodSHIFT2030 project is to create a guide, visual or written, with tips and recommendations on reducing food waste.
Chef Mădălina Roman shares with us from her experience on how we can reduce food waste in restaurants, going back to our roots and grandparents’ practices in this video.
It is important that together we do all we can to help prevent food waste, and there are countless examples and best practice models to draw on.
We continue, through our projects, to contribute to a sustainable food system so we invite you to keep following us, both here and on our Facebook page.
Referințe
Europa Liberă România – ONU: România aruncă 1,3 mil. de tone de mâncare la gunoi. Avem o lege a „risipei alimentare” însă e ineficientă
Eurostat – How much are households spending on food?
WWF – Agricultură Sustenabilă
Edenred – Infografic Studiu Risipa Alimentară
