I believe that issue of food wastage deserves to be explained to students in classrooms, also to consumers at large
KARACHI: This is with reference to the valuable food items that can be seen piled up along with garbage on the streets of Karachi. I want to draw the attention of civil society towards this surging, yet duly unacknowledged issue of food wastage in the city. Food waste mainly concerns the loss of raw or cooked food materials before, during or after meal preparation in any household as well as food discarded in the process of production, manufacture, distribution, retail and other food service activities. In households, many people are negligent and ignorant of the environmental and economic impact of food wastage. Most people lack the skill to make the most of the leftovers and cooking resources by utilising the remaining, available ingredients. Poor planning while shopping for groceries also contributes to the waste of valuable food items. The checkout counter usually carries food items that are often bought in excess amounts with no consideration as to actual requirement.
According to a recent report of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, people worldwide waste more than 30 per cent of the food at their disposal. The impact of this huge wastage creates a significant environmental footprint of food wastage that affects climate change, water, land and biodiversity. I believe that the issue of food wastage deserves to be explained to students in classrooms, and also to consumers at large, so that efforts can be made to deal with it.
Najia Niazi
Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2015.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
