Wasted Food is Also Wasted Water

by Rachel Weidinger

In addition to a zillion things I'm already a nerd about, I've been trying to figure out how hunger works on a global scale--and what the local answers are.  I'm not much closer...but found a tantalizing (and widely reported) tidbit today:

Tremendous quantities of food are discarded in processing, transport, supermarkets and people’s kitchens. This wasted food is also wasted water. In the US, for instance, as much as 30 percent of food, worth some USD 48.3 billion, is thrown away. That’s like leaving the tap running and pouring 40 trillion litres of water into the garbage can - enough water to meet the household needs of 500 million people. Through international trade, savings in one country might benefit communities in other parts of the world.

More than enough food is produced to feed a healthy global population. Distribution and access to food is a problem – many are hungry, while at the same time many over-eat. The Report highlights an often overlooked problem: we are providing food to take care of not only our necessary consumption but also our wasteful habits.

Which report, you ask? Saving Water: From Field to Fork - Curbing losses and wastage in the food chain, which has been published by the Stockholm International Water Institute, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute.

Having just cleaned out my refrigerator, the report seems timely.