In order to more accurately estimate the amount of food wasted around the world, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is developing a new methodology to create a new index, known as the Food Lost Index , said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.
“The FAO strategy is built on four pillars: awareness of the impact of waste; the identification of where losses occur; the suggestion of viable solutions and support for investment in the public and private sectors to reduce losses and waste, “said Graziano.
In addition to economic considerations, food losses and waste also have a large ethical and environmental dimension. While 8.21 million people worldwide are in a state of food insecurity, one-third of the world’s food production is wasted daily.
According to estimates by the FAO, per year, the world food waste reaches 1.3 billion tons. With the new index, the agency expects to cut by half by 2030 the amount of food discarded per capita, and reduce all losses along the production and supply chains.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.