FOOD WASTE INDEX REPORT

Subject : International Report

Context : Recently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released the Food Waste Index Report 2021.

Concept :

It has revealed that 17% of all food available at consumer level (11% in households, 5% in food service and 2% in retail) was wasted in 2019 and around 690 million people had to go hungry.
This report estimates that around 931 million tonnes of food waste was generated in 2019.
61% of which came from households, 26% from food service and 13% from retail.
Food waste generation is found to be equally relevant across all income countries such as high, upper‑middle and lower‑middle income countries.
Developed Countries like Austria produce very low amounts of waste at 39 kg/capita/year. On the other hand, countries like Nigeria are producing waste at 189 kg/capita/year. For India, the waste in kg/capita/year was 50.

About the Report:

It presents the most comprehensive food waste data collection, analysis and modelling to date, generating a new estimate of global food waste.
It also publishes a methodology for countries to measure food waste, at household, food service and retail level, to track national progress towards 2030.
In contrast to the Food Loss Index, the Food Waste Index measures total food waste (rather than loss or waste associated with specific commodities).

Food Loss Index

The Food Loss Index (FLI) focuses on food losses that occur from production up to (and not including) the retail level.
It measures the changes in percentage losses for a basket of 10 main commodities by country in comparison with a base period.
The FLI contributes to measure progress towards SDG Target 12.3.