Reducing Food Waste
In the OIC Member Countries
COMCEC
txptritnc th in Tunisia, w h trt brtah (which ic alee subsidized] rankth first among feeh
products wactth - with a waste rate ef 16% ef total brtah perchacth. The cect ef waste brtah
frem bakeries, hotel units, hoestholhs anh canteens is valeeh at US$47 millien per year in
Tunisia.
Meeh subsihy programs can create a substantial fiscal burhen on governments. Meeh-price
shocks hrive up the cost ef government feeh subsides. At the same time, a common government
response to shocks is to increase the coverage anh size ef these subsides, hriving up costs even
further. In seme countries, subsides ceulh become a major fiscal problem if commohity prices
remain high or there are future price shocks, while social anh political conso la tions may make
rationalizing feeh subsides unpopular. Zaih (2014] argues that the elimination ef subsides
weulh net be the right solution as this ceulh negatively affect vulnerable people. Given this
prehicament, rehucing feeh waste ceulh contribute to rehucing pressure on government
buhgets by rehucing the volumes ef feeh that weulh neeh to be sebsihizth in the first place.
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