food waste global crisis, global opportunity - steven m. finn - feb 2015

www.responsecology.com

Food WasteGlobal Crisis, Global Opportunity

A Link to Childhood Hunger and Obesity

Steven M. FinnResponsEcology, Inc.

University of Pennsylvania

Food System Problems and Scope

• Obesity• Hunger• Food Waste

All serious problems of the food system with global, national, regional, and local dimensions

Increasing Focus on Obesity & Food

Obesity – Troubling Statistics

• WHO reports that obesity has more than doubled around the world since 1980, and 42 million children below 5 years of age were overweight or obese in 2013 Source: WHO, 2014

• FRAC reports that 35% of U.S. adults and 17% of U.S. children are obese Source: FRAC., 2014

• The CDC recently estimated annual medical costs in the U.S. from obesity at $147 billion

Source: CDC, 2014

Obesity – Troubling Statistics

• About 30% of the world’s population is now overweight or obese; at current rates 50% of the world’s adult population will be overweight or obese by 2030

• Obesity is one of the top 3 global social burdens created by humans (just behind smoking and armed conflict/war/terrorism)

• Huge costs – personal, social and financial (2.9% of global GDP, or $2 Trillion)

Source: Dobbs, et al., 2014

• Question: How much do these themes sink in?

A Story from Our Schools

• Hunger, obesity, and food waste• Lower quality food consumed, better quality

food discarded

A Story of Need

• Hunger and isolation coexisting with celebration and abundance

• Question: Is this really a meal?

The Problem of Hunger (Global)

• 805 million people (11% of the global population) were chronically undernourished from 2012 to 2014 Source: FAO, WFP, and IFAD 2014

• The vast majority of these individuals live in developing countries Source: FAO, WFP, and IFAD 2014

• About 2 billion individuals face one or more micronutrient deficiencies Source: FAO, 2014 (www.fao.org)

The Problem of Hunger (U.S.)

• Roughly 50 million Americans lived in food insecure households in 2013 (about 1 in 6)

• Roughly one-third (nearly 16 million) were children

• In 2013, households with children reported food insecurity at a much higher rate than those without children (20% to 12%)

Source: www.feedingamerica.org 2014

Wasted Food - Global Estimates

• About 1/3 of all edible parts of food produced globally for human consumption go to waste annually Source: Gustavsson et al., 2011

• A study by SIWI noted that food losses and wastage could be as high as 50% from field to fork Source: Lundqvist,2008

• 30-50% of all food produced (1.2 to 2 billion tons) is lost before being consumed by man

Source: Fox, 2013

Wasted Food in the U.S.

• 1977 study estimated that 20% of the food produced in the U.S. for human consumption was lost annually Source: USDA, 1977

• Two decades later, another study estimated U.S. food losses at 27% of food available for human consumption Source: Kantor et al., 1997

• Recent NRDC report – 40% of our food is not eaten Source: Gunders, 2012

• Key Point: Food Waste and Obesity rates have been rising together

Wasted Food in the U.S.

Most recent USDA Study: • 31% of the available food supply at the retail

and consumer levels in 2010 was not eaten• A total of 133 billion pounds of food (meat,

poultry, fish, vegetables, dairy, etc.)• Value of $162 billion Source: Buzby, Wells, & Hyman, 2014

Wasted Food – All Types

From baked goods…

Wasted Food - All Types

To Greens and Vegetables…

To Fruits…

To Meat Proteins…

Sum: We Have Related Problems

Hunger and Obesity

• Not enough food• Not enough high quality

calories• Excessive amount of

poor calories from processed foods

• Lack of access to quality food

Excessive amounts of food loss and waste+

A Significant Calorie Shortfall

And…• We need to feed nine billion by 2050, yet we

are not successfully feeding between 800M and 2B global citizens now

• We will need to increase available global food calories by 60% over 2006 levels to meet demand Source: Searchinger, 2013

• Reducing wasted food is part of the solution

The Opportunity in Wasted Food

• If we reduced food wastage by capturing and redirecting excess high quality food, we could:

Reduce hunger Improve nutrition Reduce obesity and diet-related illness

The Opportunity in Wasted Food

• We could also:Improve the environmentImprove communityImprove securitySave money

A Resource Optimization Challenge

Wasted food is the low hanging fruit…

Causes of Wasted Food

Developed World: A Culture of Abundance

• We expect vast quantities of beautiful, relatively inexpensive produce at all times in multiple locations

The cost of 24x7 Variety

The Quest for Perfection leads to waste…

Freshness Premiums lead to waste…

Causes of Wasted FoodAnd myriad other factors lead to losses/waste:• Extreme Weather• Pests• Regulations• Overly selective quality standards• Damage from machinery• Loss in transport and storage• Food prep and conversion• Supply and demand variability• Damaged packaging• Over-purchasing• Confusion over sell-by dates• Plate wasteSource: Kantor et al. 1997

The Potential in Excess Food

• If we could save ¼ of the food currently lost or wasted annually, it would be enough to feed the 800+ million hungry across the globe today

Source: FAO Save Food 2013

• In the U.S., capturing and redistributing many high-quality calories currently being wasted could offset the challenges of food deserts

Some Recommendations for Change

We need a multi-faceted approach:• Mindset change, valuing food• Raising awareness• Education – link to hunger and obesity• Collaboration and Partnerships • Supporting experiments, new models• Landing on the National Agenda• Reframe and Act

Re-thinking About Food

• Start with Mindset Change

• We need to properly value our food

• And the resources that go into producing it

• Wastage of 30-40% is not acceptable

• Change is not an option, it’s a necessity

Raising Awareness

• Communicating the scale of food waste• Demonstrating the potential in excess food

(environmental, social, financial)• Feeding the 5000 (UK); UPenn DYNM 615 class

Education About Wasted Food

• Promoting a resource-optimization approach• Convey the long-term benefits of food recovery • Linking excess food to hunger and obesity**

Collaboration and Partnerships

• Promoting collaboration for efficient food recovery (infrastructure, logistics, labor, etc.)

• Knowledge-sharing• Use of Technology

Support For New Models• Incentives for models that capture and redirect

high-quality excess food to needy people:- Fare and Square (Philabundance)- Daily Table (MA)- Rolling Harvest (PA)- Food Recovery Network (U.S.)- Intermarche - France (ugly fruit is good, too!)- See “Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables” https://vimeo.com/98441820

A National Priority

• Add the issue of food waste to the National agenda in the U.S. (London has the right idea)

• Framework for research and measurement• National Ad Campaign to change consumer

behavior (stay-tuned)• Drive change through supply chain (consumer to retail to producer)

Reframe and Act

• Reframe the challenges of wasted food as opportunities to be exploited

• Link wasted food, hunger, and obesity to the nine billion by 2050 challenge – and to global security

• Promote the win-win in food recovery• Shift focus to utilizing existing food resources

rather than simply producing more• Business must play a big role• Educate, communicate, innovate. Act.

Questions?

Contact Steven M. Finn at ResponsEcologywww.responsecology.com215-208-5416www.foodforthoughtfulaction.com• Twitter:@stevenmfinn@responsecology

References

• Buzby, et al. The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States. 2014.

• CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html • Dobbs, et al. Overcoming obesity: An initial economic analysis. 2014.• FAO. Micronutrients. 2014.

http://www.fao.org/food/nutrition-sensitive-agriculture-and-food-based-approaches/micronutrients/en/

• FAO. Save Food. Global Initiative on Food Losses and Waste Reduction. 2013.

• FAO, IFAD, and WFP. The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2014. • Feeding America. Hunger and Poverty Fact Sheet. 2014.

www.feedingamerica.org • Fox, et al. Global Food: Waste Not, Want Not. 2013.

References

• FRAC. http://frac.org/initiatives/hunger-and-obesity/obesity-in-th e-us/ • Gunders, How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to

Fork. 2012.• Gustavsson et al. Global Food Losses and Food Waste – Extent, Causes,

and Prevention. 2011. • Kantor, et al. Estimating and Addressing America’s Food Losses. 1997.• Lundqvist et al. Saving Water: From Field to Fork – Curbing Losses and

Wastage in the Food Chain. 2008.• Searchinger, et al. The Great Balancing Act. 2013.• USDA. Food Waste: An Opportunity To Improve Resource Use. 1977.• WHO. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

food waste global crisis, global opportunity - steven m. finn - feb 2015

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