A Food Waste Solution - Novtej Dhillon
From the past few years, food wastage is getting a lot of attention around the globe and all for the good reason. The statistics on food wastage is very much alarming. The world is said to produce around 17 to 20 percent of the food than it had done some 20 to 30 years back. This is basically an evidence of how much we have progressed as species by producing an overabundance of food so as to ensure survival. While we as humans continue to progress in various fields through the help of technology so as to increase the efficiencies in the food system which we have, somewhere we are moving in an unmaintainable direction wherein more and more food is being produced but there are nearly billions of people who do not have enough of food to feed even for one time. There has been an amazing 30 percent of all the food which is produced today goes uneaten. It is very much important to reduce this loss or wastage of food and critical steps should be carried out to generate enough of food to feed those who do not get enough of the food which they need. There have been various methods which are low cost and helpful in saving food in both the developing as well as the developed countries across the globe.
Read more: Novtej Dhillon Hotel
Improvement in storage methods: There are various simple as well as low cost methods which can drastically help each of the individual in cutting down the loss of food. This is especially for those small scale farmers who are in the developing countries and tend to frequently lose their produce to various factors such as spoilage, pests or insects and damage during transportation. One of the examples can be, that grains can be stored in different interlocking plastic bags so as to lock out any pests or insects from damaging the grain and by doing so the food will remain fresh for months. The Food and Agriculture Organization has built up more than 40,000 small silos made of metal storage. These are just big enough to be used by a single farmer and in 15 different countries. These metal storage silos are known to cut down the loss of food during the phase when the grain or the produce is being stored. Instead of the plastic sack, one can also go in for using a plastic crate during the transportation so as to cut down the loss drastically by preventing any kind of squashing or bruising caused to the food.
Redistribution of food: Many a times, foods which are very well but does not get eaten due to it being excess or some other reasons to it. There can be reasons wherein the farmer is just not able to afford to harvest the entire field or the grocer has ordered in excess and is unable to sell that item. No matter what the reason are, but the main issue is this food should not be thrown away. One of the ways to reduce this type of loss of food as well as waste is simply by redistributing these foods to certain foods banks available in your area or any other outreach groups which can make good use of this food instead of throwing it. Various organization across the globe are reaching out to the government and individuals around them and making them aware of contributing such food to these food banks or NGO’s.
Food date labels: There is always confusion around the “sell-by” or “best before” or any other date labels or expiration date which can make the individual to throw away the food that is very much good to eat. In one of the reports it was seen that around one fifth of the food which were thrown out of the household had been incorrectly perceived to being expired or out of date. There should be accurate food policies which would create a uniform standard that tend to reduce the confusion around the sell date or the expiration date.
Reducing portion size: Due to huge portion sizes at buffets or restaurants it can lead to a larger amount of food getting wasted due to which people are unable to finish their meals as they have ordered. Restaurants or hotels can look to reduce this type of waste as well as their own operating costs by they themselves offering smaller portion sizes of menu items. Consumers should also be aware and take only that much amount of food which they would be able to consume. Changing our own eating habits would bring out a big change. It would turn out that by cutting down on certain foods and avoiding the others would lead to cut down on significant amount of food wastage. There should be consumer awareness campaigns to reveal on how much of the food people actually tend to waste and at the same time simple solutions should be provided to the consumers on how this wastage can be reduced. Grocers can also play an important part in these types of initiatives. The local governments as well as community groups can also provide consumers with various information that would help to reduce the wastage.
Carrying out all of these initiatives, to reduce the loss of food as well as wastage would be of great help not only to an individual country but for the overall globe. One should set up time bound targets to inspire raising awareness, mobilizing their resources and also focusing the attention. Targets should be set up at the global level, national level and the business level.
Read more: Sarina Dhillon
Read more: Novtej Dhillon Hotel
Improvement in storage methods: There are various simple as well as low cost methods which can drastically help each of the individual in cutting down the loss of food. This is especially for those small scale farmers who are in the developing countries and tend to frequently lose their produce to various factors such as spoilage, pests or insects and damage during transportation. One of the examples can be, that grains can be stored in different interlocking plastic bags so as to lock out any pests or insects from damaging the grain and by doing so the food will remain fresh for months. The Food and Agriculture Organization has built up more than 40,000 small silos made of metal storage. These are just big enough to be used by a single farmer and in 15 different countries. These metal storage silos are known to cut down the loss of food during the phase when the grain or the produce is being stored. Instead of the plastic sack, one can also go in for using a plastic crate during the transportation so as to cut down the loss drastically by preventing any kind of squashing or bruising caused to the food.
Redistribution of food: Many a times, foods which are very well but does not get eaten due to it being excess or some other reasons to it. There can be reasons wherein the farmer is just not able to afford to harvest the entire field or the grocer has ordered in excess and is unable to sell that item. No matter what the reason are, but the main issue is this food should not be thrown away. One of the ways to reduce this type of loss of food as well as waste is simply by redistributing these foods to certain foods banks available in your area or any other outreach groups which can make good use of this food instead of throwing it. Various organization across the globe are reaching out to the government and individuals around them and making them aware of contributing such food to these food banks or NGO’s.
Food date labels: There is always confusion around the “sell-by” or “best before” or any other date labels or expiration date which can make the individual to throw away the food that is very much good to eat. In one of the reports it was seen that around one fifth of the food which were thrown out of the household had been incorrectly perceived to being expired or out of date. There should be accurate food policies which would create a uniform standard that tend to reduce the confusion around the sell date or the expiration date.
Reducing portion size: Due to huge portion sizes at buffets or restaurants it can lead to a larger amount of food getting wasted due to which people are unable to finish their meals as they have ordered. Restaurants or hotels can look to reduce this type of waste as well as their own operating costs by they themselves offering smaller portion sizes of menu items. Consumers should also be aware and take only that much amount of food which they would be able to consume. Changing our own eating habits would bring out a big change. It would turn out that by cutting down on certain foods and avoiding the others would lead to cut down on significant amount of food wastage. There should be consumer awareness campaigns to reveal on how much of the food people actually tend to waste and at the same time simple solutions should be provided to the consumers on how this wastage can be reduced. Grocers can also play an important part in these types of initiatives. The local governments as well as community groups can also provide consumers with various information that would help to reduce the wastage.
Carrying out all of these initiatives, to reduce the loss of food as well as wastage would be of great help not only to an individual country but for the overall globe. One should set up time bound targets to inspire raising awareness, mobilizing their resources and also focusing the attention. Targets should be set up at the global level, national level and the business level.
Read more: Sarina Dhillon
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