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Food Waste: What We Throw Away
Industrialized countries waste food. Half of all heads of salad and potatoes and one in five loaves of bread end up getting trashed - usually before they even reach the consumer. Whether it's apples, bananas or lettuce, supermarket chains buy only the freshest produce. The slightest blemish means rejection. Once off the shelves, the consumer sees to the rest, buying too much and then letting it rot. In total, fifty percent of all foodstuffs end up in the garbage. Some of the reasons for this waste are over-productivity, tight food regulations and a throw-away mentality. The EU (European Union) wants to change this. By 2020, it aims to cut the amount of waste by fifty percent.