Food waste is defined as food that is still fit for human consumption being removed from the supply chain. Wasted food, typically from consumers, grocers and restaurants who throw away food that is still edible, is a major problem in our agricultural system. Food waste is a problem that each person can help address by being more conscious of the food they’re buying, and the food they’re throwing out. Alternately, food loss refers to the portion of food that is damaged, spoiled or rendered inedible along the supply chain from farm to table. It is typically caused by poor management or logistics during transportation, a lack of training, or a lack of storage facilities. This is typically a failure of logistics or policy and is best addressed by businesses and governments. Food loss and food waste come mainly from four places along the journey from farm to stomach: Food is lost on the farm, it’s damaged or deemed not good enough during transportation and processing, throwing out by grocery stores, and misused or discarded in the home. There’s a lot of places for fruit, veggies, grains, meat and dairy to get lost along the way. 

In the wide-ranging battle against climate change, the agricultural sector is often passed over as a sector to innovate and spur change. Overproducing and underutilizing food has a flurry of negative externalities for both human and environmental systems that will only worsen as high-input foods such as meats, dairy and highly processed foods become more accessible to more people. By discarding food before consumption, the resources that were used to make it are lost as well. Environmental resources, like the land, clean water and fertilizer that are used to grow food that is never eaten are wasted resources that can be considered some of the principal negative externalities. 

The Canadian food system - from growing plants and animals, right through to cooking our dinner - is a significant source of energy use. There are massive amounts of electricity and fuel involved in growing food, transporting it from farm to table, refrigerating everything considered perishable, and processing crops and livestock into the more refined goods we find on store shelves. The emissions coming from all this energy use, combined with the methane and other gases that are released from improper decomposition are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions and a contributor to global climate change. Food-related strategies to address climate change often fly under the radar for not being as interesting or flashy as green energy technology or electric cars. But the scale of this problem is huge; in North America, yearly emissions from food waste are equivalent to the emissions from 41 million cars being driven all day every day. Not only does food waste emit greenhouse gases as it breaks down in landfills and dumps, but food also amasses a carbon footprint of its own as it works its way through the supply chain: the farther along the chain the food gets, the large a carbon footprint it has. This is why food waste at home should be everyone’s first priority since all of the energy used to grow, harvest, process, transport and cook the food in question has been lost if the food only ends up in the garbage. 

Here are some strategies you employ at home you can do to save some money and reduce your food waste: 

• Pledge to only buy what you need, 
• Make a meal plan, 
• Use leftovers first, 
• Cook with the fresh fruit and veggies you have on hand every day
• Compost what we cannot eat 

Food Waste in Canada will be a series of posts that will explore food waste in Canada and what we can all do to help eliminate it. Each post will explore one link in the food’s journey from farm to table and explain how food waste creeps into the food chain, and what each of us can do to stop it. 

In the next post in this series, we’ll be taking a look at the causes of food waste on the farm, why farmers would have an incentive to waste the food, and what we as consumers and citizens can do about it. On-farm waste accounts for the largest section of food waste in the North American food system, so there’s plenty we can do to help out. Though if you’re interested in learning more about how you can reduce your food waste and just can’t wait, especially if you would like to talk to your kids more about food waste, I recommend you check out the Commission for Environmental Cooperation’s website, and their Food Matters Action Kit to start reducing your food waste now.