Tristram Stuart, author of a new book on food waste and a contributor to a special food waste issue of the Food Ethics Council\’s magazine, said: \”There are nearly a billion malnourished people in the world, but all of them could be lifted out of hunger with less than a quarter of the food wasted in Europe and North America. In a globalised food system, where we are all buying food in the same international market place, that means we\’re taking food out of the mouths of the poor.\”
Stuart calculated that the hunger of 1.5bn people could be alleviated by eradicating the food wasted by British consumers and American retailers, food services and householders, including the arable crops such as wheat, maize and soy to produce the wasted meat and dairy products. He added that the production of wasted food also squanders resources, and said that the irrigation water used by farmers to grow wasted food would be enough for the equivalent domestic water needs of 9bn people.
So we\’ve plenty of \”resources\” to feed everyone, The coming increase in population to 9 billion isn\’t going to cause either food or water shortages. All we need to do is make sure that the resources we\’re already using are used more efficiently.
Has to be said that that\’s an unusual message to be getting from The Ecologist but it\’s still a welcome message, no?
Now, how do we increase efficiency….as yes, more markets and more trade isn\’t it?
Stuart calculated that the hunger of 1.5bn people could be eradicated if food wasted in the West was magically transported onto the plates of the poor, on a daily basis.
Stuart has absolutely no idea how efforts to decrease waste in the West are going to lead to increased food consumption for the poor.
Gee, introducing the world’s poor to the joys of the chicken nugget…I guess that’s progress for you…
Have we descended to the political arguments of tea-time?
“Eat your baked-beans, there are children in Africa who would be glad of them.”
“Well get an envelope and I’ll post them to them.”
As soon as i saw the first word, “Tristram”, i knew it would be LeftyBollocks!
Would be interesting to know how that water “wasted for the irrigation of wasted food” can be delivered to the domestic markets. I think his math is questionable as well.
Sounds like a call to build better roads