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Food Waste Problem _ General Notions

Content

This knowledge base presents general information about the issue of Food Waste, a topic relating to us since we sell Shelfy, a device that fights food waste.

Use Cases and Context

Restrictions

None.

Examples of Questions

Resources (rev. 2024/12/11)

The problem

Data from numerous studies* show that the food wasted each year by an average household globally is 74 kg: mainly fruit and vegetables. This household waste accounts for 61% of the total, which globally amounts to an impressive 931 million tonnes. The annual economic impact due to wasted food averages $2 k per household. Globally, the annual cost of food waste is $240bn.

Global greenhouse gas emissions associated with wasted food are 7.7%, equivalent to about 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year (2007 data). Refrigerators with above-average bacteria and mould are 46%: thus, almost 1 in 2 refrigerators are subject to bacterial contamination and possible health risks.

* Sources: FOOD WASTE INDEX REPORT 2021 (UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME) for data on food waste (kg and $); FOOD WASTAGE FOOTPRINT 2013 (UN FAO - UNITED NATIONS FOOD & AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION) & OUR WORLD IN DATA for data on greenhouse gas emissions; Research ‘LEVELS OF MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION OF DOMESTIC REFRIGERATORS IN ITALY’ (2014 - SCIENCE DIRECT)

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