Take steps to prevent food waste

IT is indeed shocking to know from news reports that approximately 3,000 tonnes of food that are thrown away daily in Malaysia are preventable food waste. According to the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi), citing statistics from the solid waste and public cleansing management service operator, SW Corporation, most of the food discarded were still edible.

The issue of food waste is neither new nor confined to our country. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year, or approximately 1.3 billion tonnes, get lost or wasted, and consumers in rich countries waste as much as 222 million tonnes of food annually.