Food Wastage Footprint: Full cost-accounting

Food Wastage Footprint: Full cost-accounting

Final report

Year of publication 2014

Pages 98 p.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Book (stand-alone)

ISBN 978-92-5-108512-7

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. The economic costs of this food wastage are substantial and amount to about USD 1 trillion each year. However, the hidden costs of food wastage extend much further. Food that is produced, but never consumed, still causes environmental impacts to the atmosphere, water, land and biodiversity. These environmental costs must be paid by society and future generations. Furthermore, by contributing to environmental de gradation and increasing the scarcity of natural resources, food wastage is associated with wider social costs that affect people’s well-being and livelihoods. Quantifying the full costs of food wastage improves our understanding of the global food system and enables action to address supply chain weaknesses and disruptions that are likely to threaten the viability of future food systems, food security and sustainable development. This document introduces a methodology that enables the full-cost accounting (FCA) of the food wastage footprint. Based on the best knowledge and techniques available, FCA measures and values in monetary terms the externality costs associated with the environmental impacts of food wastage. The FCA framework incorporates several elements: market-based valuation of the direct financial costs, non-market valuation of lost ecosystems goods and services, and well-being valuation to assess the social costs associated with natural resource degradation.

Language English

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One-third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted from farm to fork, according to estimates calculated by FAO (2011). This wastage not only has an enormous negative impact on the global economy and food availability, it also has major environmental impacts. The direct economic cost of food wastage of agricultural products (excluding fish and seafood), based on producer prices only, is about 750 billion USD, equivalent to the GDP of Switzerland. The aim of the Toolkit is to showcase concrete examples of good practices for food loss and waste reduction, while pointing to information sources, guidelines and pledges favoring food wastage reduction. The inspirational examples featured throughout this Toolkit demonstrate that everyone, from individual households and producers, through governments, to large food industries, can make choices that will ultimately lead to sustainable consumption and production patterns, and thus, a better world for all.
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The global economic cost of food wastage, based on 2009 producer prices, is 750 billion USD, approximately the 2011 GDP of Turkey or Switzerland. The lost grain in sub-Saharan Africa only could meet the minimum annual food requirement of 48 million people. Lost and wasted food represents a missed opportunity to feed the growing world population. It also comes at a steep environmental price, as land quality, water quantity, biodiversity are adversely affected. Wasted food also has a strong impa ct on global climate change.
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This FAO study provides a global account of the environmental footprint of food wastage (i.e. both food loss and food waste) along the food supply chain, focusing on impacts on climate, water, land and biodiversity. A model has been developed to answer two key questions: what is the magnitude of food wastage impacts on the environment; and what are the main sources of these impacts, in terms of regions, commodities, and phases of the food supply chain involved with a view to identify en vironmental hotspots related to food wastage.