How bad is food waste? The numbers are staggering

Mondo Social Updated on 2024-01-30

The people are the foundation of the country, and the valley is the life of the people! The people live on food! ......Eating is a big deal. However, in the treatment of food, there is a set of data that I don't know if I don't know it, and it's really shocking to look at it. According to the previously released "China Urban Catering Food Waste Report", China's urban catering industry alone has 17 million to 18 million tons of food waste on the table, which is equivalent to the annual food consumption of 30 million to 50 million people. In 2018, the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the World Society for Nature jointly released the "Report on Food Waste in Urban Catering in China", which was a five-year tracking study of four cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Lhasa, which is very representative.

We extracted one of the survey data: the average waste of the urban catering industry is 96 grams of food, and the waste rate is 113%;38% of large gatherings are wasted; 1 out of 3 student lunch boxes were thrown away; The per capita food waste of tourists in the four cities was 103 grams per person per meal, which was significantly higher than the food waste of local residents of 88 grams per person per meal. It is worth mentioning that the amount of food waste in large restaurants is higher because there are more friends and business gatherings. These two types of dining tend to focus more on "face" rather than "stomach" in ordering. In addition, such gatherings are often accompanied by a large amount of alcohol drinking, which reduces the consumption of other foods, and often leads to more serious food waste.

The report also shows that food waste in primary and secondary schools is also a serious problem. The amount of food waste of primary and secondary school students in a large city is significantly higher than the average of the urban catering industry. Among the various meal serving methods, the food waste of boxed lunches is the most serious, with the amount of waste as high as 216 grams per person per meal, accounting for about 1 3 of the amount of food. Please note! This is just food waste at the consumption level. As early as 2014, "Economy" reported that due to the waste in food production, circulation, processing and consumption, China loses food equivalent to the rations of more than 200 million people every year.

Is it just food that is wasted? Is the food we waste every year just food? Definitely not! Who knows that Chinese food is hard work. A porridge and a meal, when thinking about where to come from, it is not easy; Half a thread and half a thread, the constant thought of material resources is difficult. These two poems teach us to cherish food, because some people have paid sweat and hardship to produce food. It's good to have this awareness, but it's not enough. Talking about the impact of food waste on the environment, Lu Sicheng, the chief representative of the World Wide Society for Nature in China, said that the world's existing agricultural production uses 70% of freshwater resources, 33% of land and 30% of energy, and emits 20% of greenhouse gases. The food we produce at such an environmental cost is wasted on the dinner table. In other words, food waste not only means the waste of food itself, but also the ineffective consumption of water, land, energy and other means of production used to produce these foods, as well as the resulting environmental pollution and a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions. China's resources, environment and ecological foundation are weak and the foundation is weak, and the current inappropriate food consumption and the resulting resource and environmental pressure have become an important bottleneck restricting the healthy and sustainable development of China's social economy. Some people feel that now that the conditions are good, it is nothing to waste some food, and it can also stimulate consumption and help farmers increase their income. This kind of thinking seems reasonable, but in fact it is harmful. We are a large country with a large population, and we must look at the food issue from a strategic point of view, and look a little deeper and farther away. As early as 2013, the "Compact Disc Campaign" was launched across the country with the aim of reducing "waste on the tip of the tongue". In March 2014, the General Office of the Communist Party of China issued the "Opinions on Strict Economy and Opposition to Food Waste", proposing to eliminate the waste of meals in official activities and promote frugal meals in unit canteens.

This year, global food production is facing a variety of adverse factors such as epidemics and insect pests. The United Nations recently issued an early warning that due to the impact of the epidemic and successive outbreaks of locust plagues and extreme weather, many countries are already facing serious food crises, and the number of new hungry people this year has reached 1300 million people. Today, we are reiterating the importance of saving food, not to say that there is not enough food to eat at home. This year's summer grain harvest is bumper again, and the autumn grain is about to enter the harvest season. Today, we re-mention saving food, so that everyone has a sense of conservation, crisis, and safety, and must not waste food. **Light**.

Implement the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Liaoning

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