THE Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corp estimates that Malaysians waste around 17,000 tonnes of food every day. A significant proportion of this waste is perfectly edible food that was purchased but not consumed. Beyond the environmental impact, food waste represents a financial loss that affects households, strains public infrastructure, and intensifies supply-demand pressures that drive higher prices.
A further concern is the shift towards cheaper, more heavily processed foods that offer caloric volume at lower cost, but significantly less nutritional value. Malaysia already carries one of the highest rates of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases in South-East Asia, and greater dependence on processed foods will deepen these challenges. While such cheaper food may ease short-term financial pressure, it creates long-term costs for both individuals and society.
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