3 key ways to fight food waste
The fight against food waste often starts with the basics: producing only the amount of food that is actually needed, making expired food edible again, and reusing ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away while still edible. The first step is to determine the right amount of food to produce based on expected demand. What is the right amount? It depends on a number of factors, including the season, the type of product and the expected demand.
When harvest time comes, farmers must take care not to overproduce, taking into account factors such as weather conditions, pests, crop diseases and soil quality. Once harvested, produce must be transported to where it will be consumed as quickly as possible, without interruptions and without being left outdoors for too long. Finally, when it comes to storing harvested produce, particular care is needed to prevent it from spoiling. This can be done by choosing the right storage facilities and following the recommended guidelines to maintain the quality of the produce.
Making expired food edible
For some people, the words ‘expired food’ mean ‘inedible food’. However, this is not always the case. If a product’s expiry date says ‘use by’, the date is usually strict and the product should not be consumed after the date shown; if instead it says ‘best before’, it means that in the days after that date the product is still edible, perhaps simply not at its best quality.
Reusing ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away while still edible
Many products are thrown away because people do not know what to do with them. How many times have you made a cake, had egg whites left over and then thrown them away? You can do plenty of things with egg whites: a lighter omelette, a little cake without yolks, or meringues to enjoy with coffee.
In industrial production, bran can be used as animal feed.
Fruit that is not aesthetically pleasing, but is certainly good, can be turned into juices or jams. There are countless ways to recycle food, both at home and on a large scale.
Recovering food from restaurants, canteens and supermarkets
There are countless initiatives aimed at recovering food from canteens and restaurants that would otherwise be thrown away. The food in question is good and edible, and it is not other people’s leftovers. It is simply food left over because it was cooked in larger quantities than actually needed. The same goes for food nearing its expiry date at the supermarket, which can also be safely recovered. All this food can then be distributed to canteens that offer services to people living in poverty who cannot afford to buy food. This system would also help reduce the gap between those who can even afford to throw food away and those who cannot afford to eat.
