Food Wastage: India Fares Much Better Than the US and Europe

By Devinder Sharma

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

"Sometimes, when I am finished with my meal at a marriage ceremony and go out to throw my patal (made from leaves) in the dustbin, I watch with great regret and concern when a team of urchins would descend to look for leftovers. After these children are done away with, I find the dogs moving in. At the same time I can spot a number of crows waiting for their turn. The clamour for food security extends beyond us, the well-to-do.

What we therefore consider as food wastage becomes essential to meet the food security needs of the not-so-lucky -- and also that of the animals and birds. I have always therefore wondered whether food actually goes to waste in a country like India. I still find my mother providing a handful of kneaded wheat to the cows every morning and some chapatis for the dogs after dinner. She does this religiously to ensure food security for the animals. If you look around, this is a common practice. Indian religion teaches compassion and to believe in sharing and caring.

This however does not mean that food does not get wasted. In America and Canada, 40 per cent of food is wasted, much of it at the household level. According to the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), landfills are full of staple food, adding to greenhouse gases. Some other studies say that the amount of food Americans waste every day is enough to fill a football field. Collectively, Americans waste $165 billion worth of food every year. Saving 15 per cent of the food waste would be enough to feed 25 million hungry Americans. The US has 42 million people who are dependent upon a supplementary nutrition programme.

Europe is no better. According to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, almost 90 million tonnes of food gets wasted every year. In a region where 79 million people live below the poverty line and 16 million (out of the total 40 million hungry) depend on food aid from charities, the entire wastage, if saved, could not only feed the entire hungry population but also leave a lot for export to poor nations. The food wasted in Italy alone, for instance, would be enough to feed the total population of hungry millions in Ethiopia"..........