Report finds half of world’s food is wasted

A new report says up to half of all the food produced worldwide ends up going to waste.

 This level of wastage is a tragedy that cannot continue if we are to succeed in the challenge of sustainably meeting our future food demands.

 Thirty per cent of what is harvested from the field never actually reaches the marketplace, primarily supermarkets, due to trimming, quality selection and failure to conform to purely cosmetic criteria.

A “use by” date is when there is a health risk associated with using food after that date.

A “best before” date is more about quality, when it expires it does not necessarily mean food is harmful but it may lose some flavour and texture.

However, many consumers do not know the difference between the labels and bin food after “best before” dates.