Whether we categorize uneaten food as “lost” or “wasted” depends on where it goes out of the food supply chain. Imagine how everything we eat travels across a food supply chain, a complex journey that stretches from farm to table. Studies show that an astounding 1/3 of all the food we produce for human consumption never actually reaches our plates.
- Most people see food waste in their everyday lives. At the end of the food supply chain, consumers may throw out excess purchased or prepared food, let it spoil, or develop other behaviors that waste food.
- Food “loss” occurs earlier in the food supply chain Due to inefficiencies in food production, transportation, and processing, food can lose nutritional value or become spoiled and may need to be discarded before it reaches the consumer.