Food security is a condition that worries many countries, especially developing countries, and therefore production must be increased in order to fill the shortage and meet the increasing demand as a result of population growth. For everyone, this comes from the priority of reducing the loss and waste of food, energy and money.

   Loss is the decrease in food mass during the stages of production, harvesting, handling, post-harvest storage, processing and retailing, even before consumption. Or it is the food that is lost or spoiled before it reaches its shape in the form of a final product. In short, it is the loss in the quantity and quality of food before it reaches the consumer.

   Waste means decreasing the mass of food at the stage of consumption or food that is not consumed because it is left to spoil or is disposed of by retailers or consumers or improper behavior of consumers and the lack of sufficient awareness and excessive purchase and preparation of food, especially on occasions. Food is wasted due to customs, behaviors, lifestyles, traditions, religious holidays, wedding ceremonies and family gatherings, and in the hospitality industry such as restaurants and hotels.

   In middle and high-income countries, food is wasted when consumed, and sometimes food is thrown away while it is fit for human consumption. In the industrial stage, a large part of it is wasted. As for poor countries, food is wasted in the early and middle stages of production, and the waste is less when consumed. In the industrialized world, waste is more than in poor countries. In Europe and North America, per capita waste is 95-115 kg / year, while per capita waste does not exceed 6-11 kg / year in Africa, the Sahara and Southeast Asia.

On the whole, it is estimated that food lost and wasted at least a third of the food produced globally each year, mostly the world produces enough calories to feed everyone on a vegetarian diet, and due to the complexities, inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the food system, many people still suffer from hunger. And demand is growing, to the point where it is estimated that food production could increase by as much as 70% to feed 9 billion people in the world by 2050, if current production and consumption behavior remains unchanged. This will require an increase of 120 million hectares of arable land to produce crops in developing countries. It is expected that 50 million hectares of arable land in the developed world (Food Loss and Waste: Facts and Futures), about 1.3 billion tons, will be wasted or lost. This is in a world where nearly 800 million people go hungry on a daily basis.

Consequences of waste and loss:

   The shortage of available food quantities and inaccessibility, food spoilage, contamination or corruption, and this causes a decrease in producers’ income and revenues, high prices for consumers, accelerated depletion of water resources, depletion of energy and soil nutrients, and negative effects on the environment. The uneaten food in America that goes to landfills is equivalent to 218 billion dollars, as it emits harmful warm gases (America). The city administrations work to treat the waste from it and distribute the remaining unsold food to those in need. An average of 68 percent of all foods discarded were edible.

   Reducing the amount of uneaten food waste through prevention and food salvage and food recycling through composting and/or anaerobic digestion can reduce the amount of organic waste sent to landfills where methane is generated, a powerful global warming pollutant. In addition, prevention strategies can also reduce emissions generated and associated with production.

   Strategies to combat the problem of food waste should focus first on preventing food waste, then on redirecting surplus food to people, and then on redirecting food to animals (EPA) (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s). There are a number of beneficial strategies and treatments for food waste recycling:

   Expand food waste recycling, prior to allocating resources to expand recycling collection or infrastructure, and reduce the need for food waste recycling by allocating resources to initially prevent food waste and save food surplus, templates and tools available from this basic food waste research can be used By cities to make their own assessments of the amounts and types of food wasted in their municipality.

The need to increase consumer awareness and educational campaigns about food waste.

Reducing household food waste will save money and reduce various environmental impacts. Household food waste is not as significant a contribution to food waste as waste in retail and other sectors, specifically mentioning restaurants and groceries.

Most of the food waste tracked in the diary is likely to be edible, including questionable,

To help counter the potential increase in food waste in general resulting from adding or expanding city-wide food waste recycling.

The cause of losses in countries as a result of scarcity of money, harvesting technology, storage facilities, production technology, packaging and marketing systems. And the conditions of the stores, so it is necessary to raise the level of awareness among industrialists, retailers and consumers, and to use safe and good food that is thrown away at the present time, and this is part of the solution to this problem.

Prepared by Dr. Muhammad Abd Hamad Al-Issawi - Faculty of Agriculture - Department of Food Sciences.