Given the rise in global concerns over food insecurity, it is important to review factors concerning food waste and why it is a global issue. Millions of people are starving; on the other hand, many countries are wasting large quantities of food.
According to estimates by Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted globally every year, accounting for one-third of all food produced by humans. The cost of food lost or wasted every year amounts to $2.6 trillion, which could feed two billion hungry people worldwide. Food waste emits carbon dioxide and methane gas into the atmosphere, which totals up to 8 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions, negatively affecting climate change.