Food is too precious to waste

We appreciate food. We appreciate the water, land, energy, money and human labor, that is utilized to produce food. Therefore, we made this short video to show the waste of food in a supermarket daily.

The Western world has almost twice as much food as it needs to feed its population. Half of the food is wasted from its journey from farm to your home - all links in the supply chain apply different criteria on the food. For example, 20-40% of fruits and vegetables in EU are discarded because of the aesthetic requirements before they reach the supermarkets. Also, 40-60% of all seafood caught in Europe is thrown away because it does not meet the size standards or it is the wrong specie.

The European Union is trying to improve the situation therefore, 2014 is the European Year against Food Waste. European parliament has adopted the resolution of aiming to reduce food waste by half before 2025. This change can be done by supporting local and sustainable production, new labeling systems as well as raising awareness about food waste.

This is not an easy step because food waste is a problem across all levels in the food supply chain. Liam Aylward, Member of EU Parliament, said: "To improve resource efficiency at all stages of the supply chain we need both a coordinated EU strategy as well as sharing of best practices across Member States. Most importantly, however, all players in the food supply chain need to be brought on board and help devise guidelines to improve efficiency and minimise waste"

An effective example of a food waste awareness campaign is from a French supermarket, Intermarché: Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables. They decided to sell “imperfect” food with a 30% discount to show customers that it's not about the look but all about the taste.

There are also many sharing food media outlets such as http://foodsharing.de/ where people can register and offer or receive food.

Dumpster diving is another activity, however unconventional, that fights food waste. Our video demonstrates how individuals can source fruits and vegetables that are tasty, even though they may not look like those found in catalogues. The food is labeled as waste by supermarkets, but we show viewers how to reverse this prejudgment. We collected and prepared the food we found in a dumpster outside one local supermarket. We then served it to our friends, afterwards confronting them with the fact they had just eaten food that was found in a dumpster.

Waste of any resource - food or energy - is a very immoral dilemma.

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