[Fleecewife]

I mentioned a while ago that I'm currently studying Global Food Security.  This week we are looking at food wastage throughout the world, and I must say I'm shocked to the core.

ONE THIRD of all the food produced in the world is wasted, and of course that means that the water, fertilisers, labour, packaging, transport and so on used in the production of that food are also wasted.  ONE THIRD 

This means that 28% of the world's land area dedicated to food growing is growing food which is not used.
The amount of water wasted worldwide in the production of food which is subsequently wasted would be enough to supply the drinking water needs of the WHOLE WORLD.


Have a look in your fridge and food cupboard and assess what you waste.  Look in your dustbin and see how much food you throw out each week.  Lots of us on TAS grow our own food, so wasted veggies, for example, are not actually wasted but composted and go to produce more food, but there is always something we waste.  Mine is bread flour which is out of date and I dump it - so I must buy less.

Yes this is a rant  against the whole world which sticks its communal head up its communal bum and ignores such an enormous problem, while people starve.

[devonlad]

I couldn't agree more with the sentiment of what you're saying and in our own miniscule way i'd like to think that we are at the lower end of the wastefulness scale In the "civilised" world at least.  The thought that half the world gorges itself on far too much and throws away the rest whilst the remainder have not enough to survive cannot be anything other than obscene

HOWEVER I cant help but feel depressed that it is far more complicated than simply not being wasteful. Every loaf of bread or pack of out of date meat or fish has paid for someone's wages and fed their family and if we simply buy less and use more someone else somewhere suffers ??
Am I more offended by over production, or over consumption, or food in landfill that could feed others, or produce energy i'm not sure. Great place to discuss it though

[Louise Gaunt]

I agree with all you say. There is a problem with the dates on food, it will last MUCH longer than the supermarkets would have us believe. We just cleared out the cupboards of the house our daughters have been sharing. There was half a bag of whole meal bread flour. I used it this week, made the best loaves for a long time, then read the use by date- October 2011! It smelt ok when I used it, and made really good bread. If food isn't obviously mouldy, rotten or smell bad, I ignore sell by / use by dates. I hate waste.

[Bionic]

I have to hold my hands up (we don't have an emoticon for that) I am very wasteful. I'm not proud of it.
Yogurt and veg are probably my worst culprits. I find it more difficult since I moved to the smallholding because we aren't near any shops. I have a delivery once a week and buy food 'just in case' Just in case of what I'm not sure. We have 3 freezers full of stuff. We are never going to starve.

[bloomer]

yoghurt is another one that is usually safe well past its date, well its not killed me or the kids yet!!!


salad has to be one of the worst, we don't grow our own (yet) so cant pick fresh and so much of it goes off so quickly...


other than that most of our food waste is tea bags :-) which have been used but still seem to fill the little box the council give us very quickly!

[lord flynn]

OH and I have done really well at not wasting stuff-just can't afford to so we stopped. Some of that is me using stuff past its date without me saying owt

[Lesley Silvester]

Louise, you are absolutely right. I use stuff that is well past its sell be or use by date. Bags of salad will last several days if unopened but then need eating in a couple of days. Yoghurt, unopened, will last a couple of months. Tinned food - food canned in Roman times has been found to be fit to eat so why it even needs a sell by date beats me. Fresh meat will go a short time over but fish not so much.

[northfifeduckling]

I think I am pretty good at avoiding waste, like processing and freezing bits and pieces that can be used in a dish. I'm sometimes catching myself putting some "missed" veg in the compost bucket...at least once it's out  there the chickens help themselves 
Sounds a very interesting course, Lesley , and such an important issue.

[Castle Farm]

When I was a boy nearly everyone I knew had a 'pig bucket' which was collected and fed to pigs. Phillip's Cycle factory employed about 800 workers even they had pigs that had any waste from the canteen.


Pig keepers, my uncle included went around collecting any waste and turned it into pork.


We as a country have it to easy, but that's going to change.

[northfifeduckling]

my OH did the same, that was his commitment to the young farmers' club and he lived in inner Birmingham!!! I remember that the doctor who took my tonsils out said they would give them to the hospital pigs (probably he pulled my leg) but every hospital did have pigs when I was little.
Now aren't you all wondering how old we are 

And then came Health and Safety and one now is not even allowed to feed one's animals anything that comes out of the kitchen - but can I  stop my chickens from finding the compost? 

[ZaktheLad]

A lot of food waste is also a result of supermarkets not selling misshapen fruit/veg that are perfectly edible but because they are not of the "perfect" size, shape etc people will not buy them!  I see that Waitrose are starting to sell odd shaped tomatoes in a bid to try and reduce the amount of food waste that occurs as a result of this ridiculous idea.   I find the misshapen carrots etc quite entertaining  and they don't taste any different from the perfect specimen!

[sabrina]

We waste very little. I plan our meals for the week ahead and only buy what we need.  What does bug me is fruit and veg that goes off within two days of buying them.  I think people on a tight budget are more food careful as they just cannot afford to be throwing it out. There is far more waste from the supermarkets.

[Bionic]

I do use a lot of food past it's sell by/use by dates. I just take the labels off so that OH doesn't know 

[ZaktheLad]

I will use food past its sell by date and have never had any issues or felt ill by doing so.  Beats me why things like chocolate need a sell by date as I don't think it used to have one years ago?  Also agree about the tinned food seems odd to put a sell/use by date on it really. 

[northfifeduckling]

I have heard there are changes coming up  - so far " sell by " is only for the supermarkets (helps them manage their stock levels). "Best Before" is safe for months after , even sold by some companies like Approved Foods but "Use by" is for perishables like meat or ready meals with meat. I tend to stick to the meat dates if possible. OH has been ill with Chlostridium once and Salmonella you can get from "overripe" chicken is not much fun either....common sense, really (if it smells weird or bad bad it's off)
If there's anything new on that coming up on your course, let us know, Lesley.