COMCEC
Reducing Food Waste
In the 01CMember Countries
These definitions do not take into consideration that "we throw [away] food that has
deteriorated, but could be used if the consumer had culinary and household skills to avoid this
degradation"(Esnouf et al., 2011], Other authors also propose to consider over-consumption as
a form of food waste (e.g. Stuart, 2009],
For the purposes of this study, ‘food waste’ includes both ‘food loss’ and ‘food waste’ and refers
to the edible parts of plants and animals produced or harvested for human consumption that do
not reach their intended original purpose. It represents a decline in the mass, calorific and/or
nutritional value of edible food intended for human consumption. Food waste can occur at each
stage of the supply chain -from harvesting, transport, storage, packaging, processing, wholesale
and retail trade and consumption (Table 5].
Table 5: Examples of food waste at different stage of the food supply chain
Stage Examples of food waste characteristics
1. Harvesting e.g. handling at harvest Edible crops left in field, crop damage etc
2. Threshing Waste through poor technique
3. Drying, transport and distribution Waste due to spoiling/bruising
4. Storage Waste through pests, spillage, contamination
5. Primary processing e.g. grading Process wastes and contamination
6. Secondary processing e.g. cooking Process wastes and contamination
7. Product checking e.g. quality control Product discarded
8. Packaging e.g. weighing, sealing Inappropriate packaging damages produce
9. Marketing e.g. selling and
distribution
Damage during transport, poor handling
10.Post-consumer e.g. cooking, eating Poor storage and preparation, 'use by dates
l l.E n d of life e.g. disposal Landfill, animal food
Source: Adaptedfrom Parfitt& al. (2016)
Consumer food waste occurs toward the end of the food chain, predominantly in retail, food
service and at home. This study focuses particularly on food waste generated at home or when
eating out (food service].
1.2. C a te g o r iz a tio n s o f fo o d w a s te
Food waste can be classified into three categories:
1] Avoidable losses: Refers to food and drink thrown away because they are not used,
e.g. they have exceeded their expiry date. Most avoidable losses are composed of
foods that were, at one time not edible prior to disposal. A proportion of the food has
deteriorated and become inedible at the time of disposal e.g. decomposed.,
2] Possibly avoidable losses: Refers to food that people discard e.g. apple peels or
bread crusts that could be eaten, or that can be eaten if prepared in a way that makes
them consumable e.g. potato skins, or are edible but discarded as they do not meet
aesthetic criteria e.g. crooked carrots.
3] Unavoidable losses: includes waste from food and preparations which cannot be
eaten under normal circumstances e.g. apple cores, banana and orange peels, tea
leaves, coffee grounds and egg shells. In addition, losses related to harvesting,
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