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Food WasteGlobal Crisis, Global Opportunity
A Link to Childhood Hunger and Obesity
Steven M. FinnResponsEcology, Inc.
University of Pennsylvania
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Food System Problems and Scope
• Obesity• Hunger• Food Waste
All serious problems of the food system with global, national, regional, and local dimensions
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Increasing Focus on Obesity & Food
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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
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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?
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A Story from Our Schools
• Hunger, obesity, and food waste• Lower quality food consumed, better quality
food discarded
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A Story of Need
• Hunger and isolation coexisting with celebration and abundance
• Question: Is this really a meal?
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Wasted Food – All Types
From baked goods…
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Wasted Food - All Types
To Greens and Vegetables…
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Wasted Food – All Types
To Fruits…
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Wasted Food – All Types
To Meat Proteins…
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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+
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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
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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
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The Opportunity in Wasted Food
• We could also:Improve the environmentImprove communityImprove securitySave money
$
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A Resource Optimization Challenge
Wasted food is the low hanging fruit…
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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
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Causes of Wasted Food
The cost of 24x7 Variety
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Causes of Wasted Food
The Quest for Perfection leads to waste…
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Causes of Wasted Food
Freshness Premiums lead to waste…
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Education About Wasted Food
• Promoting a resource-optimization approach• Convey the long-term benefits of food recovery • Linking excess food to hunger and obesity**
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Collaboration and Partnerships
• Promoting collaboration for efficient food recovery (infrastructure, logistics, labor, etc.)
• Knowledge-sharing• Use of Technology
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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
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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)
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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.
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Questions?
Contact Steven M. Finn at ResponsEcologywww.responsecology.com215-208-5416www.foodforthoughtfulaction.com• Twitter:@stevenmfinn@responsecology
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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.
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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/