Over 1 billion meals are wasted every single day, the UN Environment program (UNEP) has alerted.
The 2024 UNEP Food Waste Index Report, was published Wednesday (Mar. 27) and tracks the progress of countries to halve food waste by 2030.
An estimated 19% of the food produced globally was wasted in 2022, or about 1.05 billion metric tons.
Researchers analysed country data on households, food service and retailers.
Most of the waste — 60% — came in households. Then from food servic and or restaurants.
Following a near doubling of data coverage since the latest report published in 2021, there has been increased convergence in the average per capita household food waste.
High-income, upper-middle income, and lower-middle income countries differ in observed average levels of household food waste by by just 7 kg/capita/year, the report says.
Food waste is also a global concern because of the environmental toll of production, including the land and water required to raise crops and animals and the greenhouse gas emissions it produces.
The 172-page long report comes at a time when 783 million people around the world face chronic hunger.
Source: Africanews
