International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste 2023

On September 29th, the world comes together to observe the International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction.

It is an opportunity to raise awareness of the issue of food loss and waste, and to promote actions to reduce it. Food loss and waste is a major global problem. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted each year. This amounts to about 1.3 billion tonnes of food, worth approximately US$1 trillion.

Food loss and waste occurs at all stages of the food supply chain, from production to processing, transportation, distribution, and consumption. It is caused by a variety of factors, including inadequate infrastructure, poor handling practices, and consumer behavior.

This article explores the importance of reducing food loss and waste and delves into the history and significance of this observance.

The 2023 Theme: Transforming Food Systems

The theme for the International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste in 2023 is “Reducing food loss and waste: Taking Action to Transform Food Systems.” This theme highlights the shared responsibility of governments, businesses, and individuals in addressing food loss and waste. It calls for innovative approaches and actions to reduce food loss and waste, ultimately contributing to the creation of more resilient and sustainable food systems.

Reducing food loss and waste: Taking Action to Transform Food Systems

Reducing food losses and waste is essential in a world where the number of people affected by hunger has been slowly on the rise since 2014, and tons and tons of edible food are lost and/or wasted every day.

Globally, around 13 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and retail, while an estimated 17 percent of total global food production is wasted in households, in the food service and in retail all together.

The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, with the 2023 theme “Reducing food loss and waste: Taking Action to Transform Food Systems”, is an opportunity to call to action both the public (national or local authorities) and the private sector (businesses and individuals), to prioritise actions and move ahead with innovation to reduce food loss and waste towards restoring and building back better and resilient-ready, food systems.

Did you know?

Between 691 and 783 million people faced hunger in 2022.

Food that is lost and wasted accounts for 38 percent of total energy usage in the global food system.

IDAFLW Decision

The IDAFLW will make a clear call to action for public and private entities to take action to reduce food loss and waste (FLW) towards transforming agrifood systems to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

Governments and decision-makers must invest in national agriculture and food data systems and seek to engage with new sources of data and methods to generate relevant information to improve food loss and food waste, increase food security, and healthy diets and transform agrifood systems, raise climate ambition by integrating food loss and food waste in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, commit to working toward transforming national agrifood systems in favour of healthy diets and sustainable agrifood systems and implement programmes to encourage a change in consumer behaviour to help citizens reduce food waste at home.