This feature article from Nutfruit (July 2017) examines the scale, causes, and solutions to food loss and waste (FLW) across global food supply chains, with a focus on fruits and nuts. The authors explain that approximately 30% of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, while demand continues to rise with population growth.
The article clearly distinguishes food loss—typically occurring in production, post-harvest, and processing—from food waste, which happens mainly at retail and consumer levels. It highlights the significant economic, environmental, and food-security impacts of FLW, noting that wasted food represents about USD 1 trillion in losses annually and generates 4.4 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent—making FLW the world's third-largest emitter.
Visuals such as Figure 1 on page 26 illustrate regional differences in loss patterns for fruits and vegetables, showing that developing regions experience much higher processing losses. The article outlines practical, context-specific solutions—including improved storage, drying technologies, training, better packaging, cold chain development, and multi-actor collaboration. It also presents case studies, such as solar-dried mango production in Kenya, freeze-drying of cosmetically imperfect fruit in the U.S., and improved banana supply-chain coordination in Australia.
The authors conclude that reducing FLW requires integrated supply-chain approaches, capacity-building, infrastructure investment, consumer education, and continued innovation from the food industry.
Resource type:
Reports and discussion papers