Food Wastage - Challenge of the 21st Century
Oliwia Kaczmarek
2026-03-24
7 min. read
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Annually, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food are squandered worldwide (according to a 2013 FAO report). This represents more than 30% of the food produced that could be consumed. In Poland, this massive amount of food would be sufficient to feed all the inhabitants of our country for about 66 years. The squandering of food has negative economic, social, and environmental impacts. Is it possible to contain this problem? Can consumers take actions that will help prevent the squandering of food?
The global phenomenon of food waste
As previously mentioned, around 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted annually worldwide, including parts of edible products. In total, it is estimated that 1.6 billion tonnes of food products are thrown away each year. In the European Union alone, 88 million tonnes are lost. The largest quantities of waste are generated by consumers and processors. Statistics show that in one European household, 20 to 30 percent of purchased food ends up in the trash, with 2/3 of those products still edible. The residents of Great Britain waste 20 percent of food products, while the United States waste even 25 to 40 percent of food. The situation in Poland is also not good. According to Eurostat data from 12 years ago, 9 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in Poland, of which 2 million tonnes fall on private households. On a global scale, up to around 54 percent of losses occur during production and storage, while up to around 46 percent of losses occur during processing, transportation, and consumption. According to the FAO organization in Europe, the most commonly wasted products are cereals, vegetables, fruits, roots and tubers, meat, fish and seafood, milk, oilseeds, and legumes. In Poland, the most frequently thrown away products are bread, vegetables, processed meats, potatoes, and fruits.
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