Account: The causes and impact of food waste
The first part of the exam question asks you to account for the causes and the impact of food waste locally and globally. For this, we advise you to focus on the eight sources provided in your exam material, as well as on the situation in your local community.
Causes
First, we believe it is important to outline the causes of food waste as presented in the eight sources:
Offers like “buy one get one free”
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High-quality standards in retail
Another cause of food waste is represented by the high-quality standards in retail. Source 7, “Scale of UK food waste 'repugnant'”, presents the way in which the Fare Share charity gathers food which is deemed unsuitable in supermarkets and uses it to make a million meals each month. The video presents the superficiality with which vegetables such as “outsized carrots” are refused on the supermarket shelves and, implicitly, in danger of being thrown away in landfills.
The same issue of high-quality standards in retail is explored in Source 3, “Cutting food waste: reclaiming wonky veg”. In the article published on Chef Jamie Oliver’s website, the issue of “ugly vegetables” is presented: “… the TV series sees Jamie and Jimmy visiting a Norfolk farm, where up to 10 tonnes of misshapen veg are rejected on a weekly basis. The reason? Because they look ugly.” (ll. 9-11)
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Faulty planning
Another cause of food waste is represented by faulty planning when shopping and cooking. This issue is presented in Source 1, “Causes of food waste”, as well as in several other sources.
Source 4, “Food waste recycling: what to do with the food you can't eat”, encourages people to “plan ahead” when they go shopping and buy only what they need instead of letting themselves be blinded by offers and promotions. The same source encourages us to...
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Misunderstandings about the date labels
Also, a cause of food waste consists of misunderstandings about the date labels. Source 1, “Causes of food waste”, presents it as one of the main factors that contribute to waste: “Misunderstandings about the meaning of "best before" and "use by" date labels leading to edible foods being thrown away.” (ll. 7-8)
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Overproduction
The issue of overproduction is yet another important cause of food waste. Source 8, “Food waste: The end of 'buy one get one free'?”, encourages supermarkets to stop cancelling orders from producers. As farmers have already grown produce destined to being sold in supermarkets, cancelling the order would simply mean that the produce is either going to be fed to animals or destroyed.
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Inadequate storage/transport
Finally, inadequate storage or transport is another cause of food waste. This issue is referred to in Source 1, ”Causes of food waste”, as well as in Source 2, “Cutting food waste by a quarter would mean enough for everyone, says UN”. Source 2, which focuses on “food loss” (l. 12) versus “food waste” (l. 15), shows the fact that developing or poor countries lose food unintentionally because of storage or transport issues:
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Local and global consequences
In your exam question, you are also asked to discuss the impact of food waste locally and globally. Even though we have already discussed these issues when focusing on food waste causes, it is important to summarise them here, to have a better view of what we are dealing with.
Locally, those who are homeless and needy suffer most. As Source 7, “Scale of UK food waste 'repugnant'”, shows, charities are sometimes refused the possibility of gathering food that is deemed as “unfit” or “unsuitable” to feed the homeless and the needy. The Fare Share charity can prepare about one million meals every month for those in need, yet this is a rare example, as the majority of those in need around the world are still malnourished.
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