War against food waste heats up

Bumper harvest

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's food output last year reached a record 660 million metric tons, a rise of 20 percent from 2010.

However, a report published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in April said the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the food supply chain.

A preliminary assessment from the FAO suggested that the pandemic could result in an additional 83 million to 132 million people being undernourished worldwide this year.

On Aug 8, Han Changfu, minister of agriculture and rural affairs, said in a People's Daily article that some countries had limited their food exports, but with international agricultural markets facing increased volatility, China had been able to maintain ample food supplies and stable prices.

"Safeguarding national food security is a perennial task, and we should not neglect it or be complacent," Han wrote.

Many factors are involved in ensuring security of the food supply chain, from production and distribution, to consumption management and storage.

Li Zhou, an economist and former director of the China Academy of Social Sciences' Rural Development Institute, said food waste in the catering sector may not lead to famine, but will put pressure on the environment.

"In recent decades, Chinese people's attitude toward food has changed significantly－from merely hoping to get adequate supplies, to pursuing a healthy diet. But at the same time, food waste has gradually become common in society," he said.

In 2018, an investigation by the Institute of Geographic and National Resources Research and the World Wide Fund for Nature estimated that Chinese consumers in four large cities wasted 17 million to 18 million tons of food in 2015－enough to feed 30 million to 50 million people for a year.

The investigation, which surveyed 366 restaurants in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Lhasa, capital of Tibet autonomous region, found each person wasted 93 grams of food at a meal, or 11.7 percent of that served. At large banquets, more than one-third of the food was thrown away.

Eating all the food placed on a table is just the first step to putting an end to squandering, as a considerable amount is wasted in other areas of the supply chain.

Li said the government should educate people that refined processing of commodities such as rice and wheat will not necessarily increase nutritional value, but will use more natural resources and create additional waste.

He also hit out at the commercial hype surrounding imported food and fine dining.

"To reduce energy use and resource costs per unit of food in production and transportation, we should promote the idea of eating locally instead of eating globally," he said.

Gu Yuhan contributed to this story.