Webber: Rich nations waste food at consumption; poor nations at harvest
Dr. Michael Webber · The food-energy nexus · Sep 8, 2023 · at 16:32
Dr. Michael Webber contrasts the structural causes and supply chain stages of food waste between rich and developing countries.
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“Food waste happens in a different stage of the supply chain in the United States compared to, say, a poorer country. So in the United States, we have a very robust cold chain, which is good news, but that means we're wasting the food on our plate. Like, we're over-serving at these all-you-can-eat buffets, then we just don't eat it, or We don't take a home with a doggy bag, or we put it in a fridge but never eat it. The food waste is happening in poor countries earlier. It's not wasted at the plate, it's wasted on the field because they can't get it to market quickly enough, or they have post-harvest waste because they can't refrigerate it.”
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