End Food Wastage, End World Hunger

By Yusuf Wildan

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‘Eat your food or the kids in Africa will go hungry!’, an iconic phrase I believe most of the fortunate children have heard from their mothers. As a child, I always wondered, how could finishing my plate help them? Well, it turns out that the statement is true but most of us take it lightly.

Starvation and food insecurity have always been concerning issues in today’s world. In most places, we are fortunate enough to enjoy having the luxury to have food on our plates at each meal. However, that is not the case for 821 million people around the globe that go to bed on empty stomachs. Food insecurity causes many problems ranging from malnutrition, poor health, and in severe cases hinder the development of children.

To combat this problem, The United Nations (UN) has placed food insecurity as their second goal in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Zero Hunger. Zero Hunger focuses not only on eradicating hunger and malnutrition but also on empowering the small farmers as one of the most essential and vulnerable food producers. With this goal established, the United Nations has been committed to reduce the Global Hunger Index and help farmers in maintaining a sustainable food production line.

Now back to the main issue, how does reduced food wastage help eradicate world hunger? According to United Nations World Food Programme, there is enough food for every person in the world. Then, why is there still starvation and hunger everywhere? It seems that almost 1/3 of food produced for human consumption are wasted at various levels, such as at production, retail, and consumer levels. Imagine if that food can be shared with those who are unfortunate.

So what can I do to help minimise food wastage? 

• Plan your groceries. This can prevent overspending and buying excessive food that will be thrown away.
• Instead of throwing away your leftover meal, pack them and keep them in a refrigerator. You can eat them on your next meal and avoid wasting food.
• Shop at your local market and buy from a local farmer. Buying from your local market will reduce the distance and time to transport your food, which ultimately reduces the chances of food turning rotten during transportation
• Read the labels on canned food. There is a huge difference between ‘best by’ and ‘use by’. You can still consume food that has passed its ‘best by’ date.
• And many more!!!!!

So what are you waiting for? Let us start to become a ‘Food Hero’ to help others.

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