One third of world's food produced goes to waste each year

Around 1.3bn tonnes of food produced for human consumption is lost or discarded during the post-harvesting processing every year. This volume is about one third of the worldwide food production, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports, quoting findings from a study which it commissioned. According to the report titled "Global Food Losses and Food Waste", which was drawn up by the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology (SIK), consumers in industrialised countries alone waste 222m tonnes of food annually, which is almost equal to the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230m tonnes). Whereas an average North American and European consumer throws away 95 to 115 kg of food every year, consumers in sub-Saharan countries waste only 6 to 11kg per person a year, FAO reported.