What would change, if we threw away less (still edible) food? part two

If we threw away less food, we wouldn’t need as much as we do now, which means, we could leave some of it in the countries we get it from. In that case, these countries won’t suffer from food shortage. We even could exchange these different foods with other countries that (also) need it, so they will have access to all kinds of food.

Another solution is to produce less food. First, the people of the countries where our food comes from, won’t have to work as long and hard as before. Second, transporting and packing food costs money, which now is saved. It can be used for other goals, for example we could use it for paying those poor people instead. And besides, with that money, we could improve the circumstances of production and increase the food quality.

By Pi

What would change, if we threw away less (still edible) food? part one

Okay, we throw away a lot of food. But what would change if we were to throw away less food? One big change would be less deforestation, which means we would destroy less living areas of many animal species. Nowadays, more and more animals are appearing on the red list, because every second an area of the size of a football field is being destroyed to make agricultural land out of it. Latest update to the red list of threatened species shows that the giraffe is on the brink. The last 30 years nearly 40% of giraffes is lost. The natural world is in the midst of a mass extinction as wild places are destroyed by conversion to farmland.

And this is not the only problem. Production of food is one of the biggest production sectors in the world and one-third of the production worldwide is produced in vain. You can imagine this has a huge environmental impact. If food waste would be a country it would rank as the third highest national emitter of greenhouse gases.

 

By Lotta

What to do with food which is out of expiration date?

• Rice doesn’t spoil that easy, but when it’s old, the quality decreases. You can still use it to fill huge balloons. And ta-da, you have an instrument and a toy.
• Old bread which is hard or moldy, you can give to animals like pigs or ducks. If you have little kids, this is the nicest thing you can do.
• What you also can do with old bread is roasting. It will taste much better. Eat it as dinner with soup or as breakfast with marmalade.
• Make smoothies with bruise fruit: cut the bruise part of the banana or kiwi (or other fruit) and put it in a blender with some yoghurt and orange juice. Then you’ve a delicious smoothie.
• If you have pasta at home, go and make some dolls or make a necklace.
• You can use bruise apples to make apple-sauce. You have to mash apples with a little bit cinnamon.
• With rotten eggs or tomatoes you can demonstrate and throw with it.
• When you have gummy candy and you put it into water it will grow. This is funny for children.

By Loe

By Loe

These little boys are starving. They will do everything to get some food. And we, Europeans, throw a lot of food away unnecessarily. This has to change!

Deforestation is linked to food production

“According to Nasa’s Earth Observatory, if current rates of tropical deforestation continue, the world’s rainforests will vanish within 100 years, eliminating the majority of plant and animal species on the planet, as well as uprooting the communities who live there.” ~The Guardian, 29th of September 2017

Around 70% of deforestation is linked to the production of agricultural commodities that end up in food products eaten (?) around the world. Also, according to a recent study from Cornell University, deforestation seems to have a much bigger impact on climate change than previously realized.

The UN’s sustainable development goals promise to stop deforestation by 2020. Anti-deforestation pledges are a positive step, but they have limitations. A recent Oxfam report on deforestation-free food concluded that despite company commitments, not enough is being done to translate these into policies and action. Large numbers of environmental activists are still being killed. In Peru, six farmers were recently shot dead in a battle over land rights and palm oil and, in total, more than 145 land defenders have been killed so far this year – many linked to deforestation.

It’s clear we’re not there yet. Companies keep producing food on (sometimes illegally) deforested land. So what would be a better solution than no more need of more farmland? If we were to throw away less food, more farmland wouldn’t be necessary and so deforestation wouldn’t be necessary anymore either.

By Lotta

By Pi and Lotta

While wasting food, food itself isn’t the only thing we’re wasting. Gas, water, land and tons of money are also included.

Reduce, recover, recycyle

On June 4, 2013, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)  and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) launched the US Food Waste Challenge. The goal was (and is) to reduce the food waste with 50% by 2030. The following three actions are mainly important to accomplish this: Reduce, Recover and Recycle.

There are lots of reasons why people throw away food, while it’s still edible. The NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) tells us that about 20% of the food waste is a result from people misreading expiration dates. A lot of them are focused on the freshness and flavour, rather than whether the food is actually bad for your health. You can still eat foods that are over their “Best if used by” date. Several organisations would like customers to be educated in the meanings of different food date labels.

Also, useful tools are also made for the customers who are still confused. The NRDC created a “Save the food” Alexa Skill , which allows you to ask questions about how to reduce food waste at home, how to store your aspargus or even whether your avocado is still edible.

Hopefully, with all this information and the tools, The US Food Waste Challenge will be completed by 2030!

By Pi

Types of food waste

There are different types of food waste:

Before the products as fruit or sugar appear in the supermarket, they’re first checked. The fruit  that is bruise or deformed is thrown away, the same goes for packs of food which are broken or wrong.

If after a day or two a fresh product like bread or vegetables isn’t sold, it will be dumped: the product isn’t fresh enough, so no one wants to buy it.

Then the customers themselves: imagine, you have bought those nice products, but now you forgot them and they don’t look so nice anymore. What do you have to do? Most people will think: “Oh, that doesn’t look good, let’s throw it away, I’ll buy new ones”. So this food also ends up in the trash.

The last big food waster is the hotel and catering industry. Restaurants try to estimate how much food they need. But still there is a surplus. This food will be thrown away as well.

By Loe

Is the majority of people aware of the problem food waste causes?

I remember one time I visited my grandparents and we all had dinner together. As soon as my grandma made sure everyone had had enough, she looked at the leftover food. “That’s a pity”, she sighed, “we’ll have to throw that away.” “Why?”, my mum replied, a little bit confused. “Why don’t you put it in the fridge and eat the rest of it tomorrow?”. “Oh, well, you reckon that it will still be all right?”, my grandma asked skeptical.

This conversation got me thinking. Do most people even know that you can still eat leftover food the next few days and that you can keep most food longer than what the expiration dates say? Is the majority of people aware of the problem food waste causes? And even if most people are aware of this problem, are they aware of how big the problem is?

Last year, a EU environment commissioner visited our school. He told us all about big issues like climate change and the amount of plastic in the oceans. He also mentioned a problem in our own vicinity: you could fill multiple trucks with the amount of bread  that’s thrown away every day in Amsterdam.

“Everyday we throw away 24 million slices, that’s as high as 27 times the     Mount Everest.”

If you can fill multiple trucks with purely bread that’s wasted in Amsterdam in one day, you can only imagine what amount of food is wasted all around the world every day. You can only imagine the amount of water that has been used, the amount of gas that has been emitted, the amount of money that has been spent and the size of living areas of animals that have been destroyed, purely to throw away all that food.

By Lotta

Ways to determine whether different foods are still edible after the expiration date

• Liquids (such as Orange juice or Soda)

Smell it and taste a little (honestly, you won’t die)

• Fruits and veggies

See if you can find bruises or other bad spots. If it doesn’t look that bad, cut the spots out and eat it. If it’s disgusting, throw it away.

• Meat

Take some care. It won’t last extremely long, but it could last until a few days after the expiration date. Smell it and taste a little.

• Candy

Candy lasts forever, at most, it could taste a little stale.

• Baked goods (bread included)

Just take a bite. It can be dry, but that’s all right. If it’s molded, don’t eat it.

• Spreads (such as peanut butter or jam)

Smell and taste. Most spreads will be good for a long time.

• Dairy products

Again, smell and taste. Also, see if the cheese or butter is molded.

• Snacks (crisps, nuts)

Just try them. They could be dry or soft, but that’s not a problem.

• Grains (pasta, rice, etc)

These are edible for really a long time. When in doubt, taste it.

By Pi