Food / Waste / Climate Change
Food Waste Book Review

Post-Harvest Loss Reduction ... Book Review: Food Foolish ... The Hidden Connection Between Food Waste, Hunger and Climate Change

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Post-Harvest Loss Reduction ... Book Review: Food Foolish

The Hidden Connection Between Food Waste, Hunger and Climate Change

If there was one thing—just one problem—for which there were readily available solutions that would materially address conflict, climate change, water shortages, poverty, and education, what might that focus be?

That’s the question that John M. Mandyck and Eric B. Schultz answer in their book, Food Foolish: The Hidden Connection Between Food Waste, Hunger and Climate Change.

Mandyck and Schultz take on the ‘elephant in the room,’ or as they describe it, the 1.3 billion elephants—at 1 metric ton each—to give us a picture of what the world is losing and wasting from the food supply chain each year.

The magnitude of this loss is staggering: “Imagine purchasing three bags of groceries. While driving home, toss half of one bag of food onto the road. That represents the loss that occurs during harvest, processing and distribution. Arrive home and immediately toss the other half of the bag into the trash. That’s the waste experienced by retailers and consumers. Buy three, get two: welcome to our food system.”

The authors cite source after source (more than 250), throughout their slim, 14-chapter book, which is as easy to read as it is compelling. Here’s the simple arithmetic: “the annual global agricultural production for food and non-food uses is about 6 billion metric tons. Of that, some 2 billion are used for industrial and non-edible purposes. That leaves 4 billion metric tons of edible food, fit for human consumption. From that splendid, nutritious supply—enough to feed the entire world—we lose and waste about one-third, or 1.3 billion metric tons.”

the annual global agricultural production for food and non-food uses is about 6 billion metric tons. Of that, some 2 billion are used for industrial and non-edible purposes. That leaves 4 billion metric tons of edible food, fit for human consumption. From that splendid, nutritious supply—enough to feed the entire world—we lose and waste about one-third, or 1.3 billion metric tons. What’s the difference between loss and waste? Food loss describes that portion that is lost between fields and market, often referred to as ‘upstream’ in the food supply chain, or ‘post-harvest’ loss. Food waste, on the ‘downstream’ side of the supply chain, is the food that makes it to market but is never eaten, discarded by merchants, restaurants, or consumers.

The reasons for this are myriad, but they all have one thing in common: they are solvable problems. The authors argue, quite persuasively, that if we took a fraction of the money set aside to increase agricultural yields and spent it on infrastructure to move food to market—roads, power, cold-chains, information, and finance—we would be much closer to achieving global food and nutrition security, and we would have greater financial security and environmental sustainability.

The authors have special expertise in the area of one of those key components. Mandyck is the Chief Sustainability Officer of one of the world’s largest cooling equipment manufacturers, United Technologies Corporation, and Schultz is the former CEO of Sensitech, a company that provides cold chain monitoring solutions and was acquired by Carrier/United Technologies in 2006. Yet the book doesn’t read like advertising copy. In fact, the only place you’ll see United Technologies Corporation, Sensitech, and Carrier mentioned is in the section “About the Authors” where you can also find plenty of acknowledgements to collaborators from across the public, private, and social sectors, such as the World Food Programme of the United Nations, Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, The Global Food Chain Council, U.S Green Building Council, The Houston Food Bank, Coldex Logistics, Earthbound Farms, Turek Farms, and several Universities, as well as an introduction by Philippe Cousteau.

The authors have dedicated their careers to making the most nutritious, fresh food available and accessible, and they’ve done it through the organizations they’ve led in classic cases of creating shared value: doing well by doing good.

It’s all about the supply chain—the more efficient it is, the greater the throughput and the lower the marginal cost of production. With the food supply chain, efficiency implies keeping food protected and cold until it can be processed or consumed.

“Nothing keeps perishable products safe, maintains their physical and nutritional qualities and prolongs their shelf life like cold air…. That makes the modern cold chain an indispensable tool of global trade and increasingly a field of high technology. This seamless and interconnected network includes marine container refrigeration, truck and trailer refrigeration, warehouse and food retail refrigeration, and millions of home refrigerators…. The cold chain quietly protects the food supply and raises the standard of living…. Unfortunately, only about 10 percent of perishable foods today are refrigerated worldwide.”

Challenges like poor roads, unreliable electric energy, spotty communications, lack of capital, and inadequate skill levels to build, install, and maintain equipment are ripe for a system-wide approach which pairs the best of what the public, private, and social sectors have to offer with regards to this issue—including the kind of ‘green leap’ thinking which Stuart Hart describes in Capitalism at the Crossroads. Whereas thirty years ago, telephone communications were practically non-existent in remote or developing markets, today, ubiquitous cell phone communication has obliterated the need for installed lines. How might we use that same type of human-centered design and entrepreneurial innovation to solve the problem of food loss with readily available cold chain technology to bring food to market and preserve it in the home—affordably, conveniently, and accessibly?

Solvable doesn’t mean simple. “True, it’s not easy to assemble the pieces required to seamlessly ship perishable foods…. But as a targeted and proven investment, it’s hard to find a better way to reduce loss and waste, expand distribution, and make food available to hungry people,” argue the authors.

And the benefits go far beyond delicious meals and good nutrition.

Food waste represents 3.3 billion metric tons of embodied CO2. If a country’s size were measured by its carbon footprint, food waste would be the third largest in the world, behind China and the U.S.

Food waste represents 3.3 billion metric tons of embodied CO2. If a country’s size were measured by its carbon footprint, food waste would be the third largest in the world, behind China and the U.S. This embodied CO2 represents the equivalent carbon footprint from production, transportation, processing, and decomposition of food never consumed. Embodied water is also a consideration. When tallied, all of the water used to grow the wasted food is more than any single nation uses in a year, especially critical in areas experiencing water stress. As long as we continue to waste one third of what is grown, a growing population requires more arable land, with the subsequent conflict over property. Finally, improved quality and throughput improves economic opportunity throughout the chain, but is especially significant to stabilize and improve the most vulnerable population in the food chain: the small-holder farmer.

If you’re interested in food and nutrition security, clean water, halting climate change, sustainable land use, biodiversity, improved livelihoods, social justice, and world peace, you should be interested in reducing food loss and waste. Check out Mandyck and Schultz’ book to learn more.

Feature photo courtesy of Christian Guthier.

Join the conversation. Attend the Post-Harvest Loss Twitter Chat on January 26 from 11:00am-12:00pm (EST).

The Global Engagement Forum Live, hosted by PYXERA Global, focuses on the Sustainable Development Goals—also known as the Global Goals—especially the need for collaboration across the public, private, and social sectors to make progress towards them. Throughout two days of facilitated collaboration, an interdisciplinary group of thinkers from across the three sectors will work to create collaborative action on three imminently solvable problems within the Global Goals. Join leaders from across sectors for two days of intensive collaboration to move the Global Goals from aspiration to achievement.

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