Food waste or food loss is food that is discarded or lost uneated. As of 2013, half of all food is wasted worldwide, according to the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
The causes of food waste are numerous, and occur at the stages of production, processing, retailing and consumption.
Production.
In developing and developed countries, which operate either commercial or industrial agriculture, food waste can occur at most stages of the food industry and in significant amounts.
Food processing.
Food waste continues in the post-harvest stage, but the amounts of post-harvest loss involved are relatively unknown and difficult to estimate.
Some of the food waste produced by processing can be difficult to reduce without affecting the quality of the finished product. Food safety regulations are able to claim food, which contradict standards before they reached markets.
Retail.
Retail stores can throw away large quantities of food. Usually, this consists of items that have reached their best before, sell-by or use-by dates.
The 2011 SIK study estimated the total of global food loss and wasted around one third of the edible parts of food produced for human consumption, amounting to about 1, 3 billion tons per year.
As the following table shows, industrialized and developing countries differ substantially. In the latter, more than 40% of losses occur at the retail and costumer levels. The total food waste by consumers in industrialized countries (222 million tons) is almost equal to entire food production in Sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tons).
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