SAVE FOOD Promotes Storage, Transportation Solutions to Reduce Produce Spoilage
Editor's Note: The following article was provided by the SAVE FOOD Initiative and edited by Food Safety Magazine staff. SAVE FOOD is a joint initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Messe Düsseldorf GmbH against worldwide food loss and waste. For more information, visitSaveFood.org.
Approximately 45% of the fruit and vegetables produced worldwide are not consumed but lost. With the exception of roots and tubers there is no other food segment where the losses are so high on an international scale. Be it kiwis, mangoes or carrots, almost half the crops growing on pastures, plantations and farms never reach the consumer. They go bad, rot or are thrown away because they do not (or no longer) live up to certain retail criteria. Forty-five percent of global production roughly corresponds to 3.7 trillion apples.