Food loss and waste is a major challenge globally, and in North America, an estimated 30 to 40 per cent of the food available for human consumption is lost or wasted. Achieving both global and national food loss and waste reduction goals will require a broad-based effort across the supply chain, from farm to fork and beyond.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has said in an audit report on the Food Corporation of India (FCI) that more than 4.72 lakh tonnes of wheat valued at Rs700.30 crore got damaged in Punjab till March 2016 due to delay in implementation of the private entrepreneur scheme which was expected to increase the storage capacity of foodgrains

The Food Loss and Waste: Facts and Futures Report sketches the state of food loss and waste, with a specific lens into excessive food loss and wastage in South Africa. In South Africa, 10 million tonnes of food go to waste every year. This accounts for a third of the 31 million tonnes that are produced annually in South Africa.

Prepared on behalf of Champions 12.3, The Business Case for Reducing Food Loss and Waste analyzes the financial impacts of historical food loss and waste reduction efforts conducted by a country, a city, and numerous companies. The results show that the financial benefits of taking action often significantly outweighed the costs.

More and more people are becoming overweight and obese, with increasing diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Behind the global shifts in malnutrition and NCDs are unhealthy diets and a sedentary lifestyle. Our food systems and the food environments are not delivering on the diets needed to promote and sustain optimum health.

The Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard (or FLW Standard) is a global standard that provides requirements and guidance for quantifying and reporting on the weight of food and/or associated inedible parts removed from the food supply chain—commonly referred to as “food loss and waste” (FLW).

The paddy-wheat monoculture induced a decelerating agricultural trend in Punjab which has been felt in the form of stagnation in output, deteriorating productivity, environmental degradation, declining farm incomes, depeasantization and suicides by farmers.