Why They Go Hungry?

Food waste has become a complex phenomenon attracting the attention of scientists, consumers and activists alike. The fact that emphasis is given to increasing agricultural produce and then a third of all the food produced ends up as waste is being termed as a global paradox.

- Anustup Roy Barman

CAUSES

Lack of appropriate planning

One of the top contributors to food wastage is inappropriate planning on the part of the consumer. Sometimes people buy lots of food without appropriate planning. The hectic lifestyle often leads to food wastage as giving necessary time to cooking is an issue.

Purchase and preparation of too much food

Most of the time, food is wasted because of purchasing or preparing too much of it. If one purchases or prepares too much food as compared to what is needed, then it is obvious that the excess food on the plate will be waste.

Errors in industrial processing and keeping up with food safety policies.

Another big driving factor for food wastage is the protocol on food safety. The food safety protocols give no room for error in industrial processing. Essentially such strict regulations mean that any errors during industrial processing of food would mean that all food items that don’t meet the set standards are wasted.

Managerial, financial and technical constrains

This is mainly a challenge contributing to food wastage in the developing countries. The wastage takes place because of the constraints to do with lack proper management, inadequate finances, and technical difficulties in the lines of harvesting methods, storage and cooling infrastructure in adverse weather conditions, processing, packaging, infrastructure, and marketing systems.

Over-merchandising and over-ordering in food stores and supermarkets