IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO EAT IT, SIMPLY DO NOT BUY IT!
Have you ever wondered how a homeless person in New York gets through the day without having food in their stomach? Every day, millions of homeless people start and end their day with an empty stomach. This lends the question “is there food crisis now?” The simple answer is NO.
However, children of future generations might be facing such a food crisis. It is predicted that in the year 2050, the human population will increase to a rough estimate of 9.6 billion. This means there will be food and water scarcity due to overpopulation if we continue to waste food daily. Food waste is a global issue which if it does not affect you, it will someone, if not today it will someday. What is food waste? Well, food waste is when food products, that is cooked or packaged, are disposed of, lost or uneaten.
Did you know that thirty- three (33%) percent of uneaten food produced for human consumption is disposed of. Also, the average household spends about two- thousand (2,000) dollars disposing of food. There are many food waste characteristics and or personalities in our campuses and such characteristics determine food waste behavior. Here are few mentions of such characters.
i) There is the conscious fussy character. This character decides to eat or not eat food based on the looks and smell of the food. Their habit is to constantly check their food products for expiration date.
ii) The frugal Consumer. This Character generally does not waste an enormous amount of food. Thank you!
iii) The unskilled Cook. This Character consumes pre-cooked food without keeping track of the amount of food bought and or thrown away.
iv) The exaggerated Cook. This Character buys more food than needed for a long period of time, does not finish the food and ends up disposing the food due to the growth of mold.
v) The conscious- Forgetful This character typically forget food bought and stored and such food products left in storage for a long period of time tend to be thrown away.
vi) The exaggerated Shopper. This character lives alone, buys packaged food and never eats the food fast enough for the fear of running out of it.
And
vii) The confused character. This character buys food online and does not understand the “used by” and “best before” labeling.
It is certain that everyone has at least one of these food wasting behaviors that contribute to the increase in food waste. For sure I can consider myself an exaggerated cook, fussy consumer, conscious- forgetful, and definitely an exaggerated shopper. Ever since childhood, I ate food based on how it looks and smells. I did this because I did not want to consume spoilt food and fall sick. This is is justifiable, no-one should consume food that has gone bad. The positive thing is I did and still do consume leftovers to reduce food waste. As I got to my teens, that when I recognized myself as a conscious-forgetful consumer, an exaggerated cook, and shopper. I would have the refrigerator full of different food products, eat a particular food slowly and when I want to move to the next food item, it has expired or spoilt. These food items end up in the garbage and I end up feeling guilty that I wasted not only food but my parents’ money. My goal was to be a frugal consumer since I cannot help throwing out food. I always tell myself baby steps. I am making progress transitioning from a major food waste contributor to a frugal consumer and one- the day I will be the character that never wastes food or at least better knows how to make use of my food waste.
It takes a high amount of time, energy and hard work (labor) to produce our daily food products. We can help manage food by reading and understanding labels and storage instructions. Whenever you go to a produce market or any place you get your food supply from, know that the “used by” date refers to the expiration of the food and “best before” date refers to the period when the food is in its good condition. Yes, we have these techniques that continue to help resolve the issue of food waste. Nonetheless, if we really want to battle this issue, we first have to deal with the root- cause that is the human behavior or habits of disposing of food. This is why our aim is to inform you about food waste because there is a child out there, a homeless person out there and a family out there somewhere in need of such food we waste due to our ignorance. Now the question is, Are you ready to change your food behavior? So I, so you, and so we can better use our food?
References
Oelofse, S., Muswema, A., Ramukhwatho, F. ( May/Jun2018). Household food waste disposal in South Africa: A case study of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni. South African Journal of Science.Vol. 114 Issue 5/6, p40-45.
Papargyropoulou, E., Lozano, R., Steinberg, J. K., Wright, N., & bin Ujang Z. (2014). The Food Waste Hierarchy as a Framework for The Management of Food Surplus and Food-Waste. Journal of Cleaner Production, 76, 106-115. doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.020.
