scholarly journals The opportunity cost of animal based diets exceeds all food losses

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (15) ◽  
pp. 3804-3809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alon Shepon ◽  
Gidon Eshel ◽  
Elad Noor ◽  
Ron Milo
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Opportunity Cost ◽  
Animal Products ◽  
Food Loss ◽  
Food Items ◽  
The Us ◽  
Food Losses ◽  
Dietary Shifts ◽  
Expected Benefits

Food loss is widely recognized as undermining food security and environmental sustainability. However, consumption of resource-intensive food items instead of more efficient, equally nutritious alternatives can also be considered as an effective food loss. Here we define and quantify these opportunity food losses as the food loss associated with consuming resource-intensive animal-based items instead of plant-based alternatives which are nutritionally comparable, e.g., in terms of protein content. We consider replacements that minimize cropland use for each of the main US animal-based food categories. We find that although the characteristic conventional retail-to-consumer food losses are ≈30% for plant and animal products, the opportunity food losses of beef, pork, dairy, poultry, and eggs are 96%, 90%, 75%, 50%, and 40%, respectively. This arises because plant-based replacement diets can produce 20-fold and twofold more nutritionally similar food per cropland than beef and eggs, the most and least resource-intensive animal categories, respectively. Although conventional and opportunity food losses are both targets for improvement, the high opportunity food losses highlight the large potential savings beyond conventionally defined food losses. Concurrently replacing all animal-based items in the US diet with plant-based alternatives will add enough food to feed, in full, 350 million additional people, well above the expected benefits of eliminating all supply chain food waste. These results highlight the importance of dietary shifts to improving food availability and security.

scholarly journals Food losses and wastes in brazil: a systematic review

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Clandio Favarini Ruviaro ◽  
Anaysa Borges ◽  
Maycon Farinha ◽  
Luciana M Bernardo ◽  
Henrique B Morais ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
The Other ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Food Loss ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Food Losses

Globally, it is estimated that approximately a third of the food produced is lost or wasted. Reducing half of these losses would make it possible to increase the availability of food for another 1 billion people. Specifically, in Brazil, the amount of lost and wasted food, if used, would be enough to achieve food security, considering as a restriction for this security, the availability of food for purchase. In this context, the objective is to identify methodologies that measure losses and food waste in Brazil. For this, a systematic review of the subject was made. It can be observed that there are a few studies that quantify food losses and wastage in the country. The largest concentration of these studies is in the distribution and consumption stages of the food supply chain. Information is available from food lost and waste, mainly in the consumption and distribution phases. Otherwise, in the other phases of the supply chain, food loss and waste values in Brazil are still incipient or non-existent. Studies that identify these values can contribute to the generation of more accurate information on the subject, being able to raise the values referring to food loss and waste of the country.Keywords: supply chain; food secutity; sustainability; hungry.Perdas e desperdícios alimentares no Brasil: uma revisão sistemáticaRESUMOEstima-se que, globalmente, aproximadamente um terço dos alimentos produzidos sejam perdidos ou desperdiçados. No entanto, a redução de metade dessas perdas tornaria possível aumentar a disponibilidade de alimentos para mais 1 bilhão de pessoas. Especificamente, no Brasil, a quantidade de alimentos perdidos e desperdiçados, se utilizados, seria suficiente para alcançar a segurança alimentar, considerando como uma restrição para essa segurança, a disponibilidade de alimentos para compra. Nesse contexto, o objetivo é identificar metodologias que mensurem perdas e desperdício de alimentos no Brasil. Para isso, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática do assunto. Pode-se observar que existem poucos estudos que quantificam perdas e desperdícios de alimentos no país. A maior concentração desses estudos está nos estágios de distribuição e consumo da cadeia de suprimento de alimentos. As informações estão disponíveis a partir de alimentos perdidos e desperdiçados, principalmente nas fases de consumo e distribuição. Nas demais fases da cadeia de suprimentos, os valores de perda e desperdício de alimentos no Brasil ainda são incipientes ou inexistentes. Estudos que identifiquem esses valores podem contribuir para a geração de informações mais precisas sobre o assunto, podendo elevar os valores referentes à perda e desperdício de alimentos no país.Palavras-chave: cadeia de suprimentos; segurança alimentar; sustentabilidade; fome.

Food balance sheets provide information on food security, indicators of the prevalence of undernourishment and losses in the cases of Benin, Guinea and Mali

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Madior Fall
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
The Self ◽  
Animal Products ◽  
Balance Sheets ◽  
Food Loss ◽  
Plant Products ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Loss Index ◽  
Food Security Indicators ◽  
Security Indicators

This paper was done within the framework of the Monitoring of the SDGs in Africa (SODDA) project which supported the analysis of the food balance sheets drawn up through the letter of agreement between FAO/GS1 and AFRISTAT. Analysis of the self-sufficiency rate over the 2010–2015 period shows that Mali has higher food self-sufficiency than Benin and Guinea. In Guinea, overall, 43.2% of domestic product supplies are on average imports. Plant products are the most dependent on imports with an average annual IDR of 48.2% compared to 12.5% for animal products. In the three countries, plant products are the most dependent on imports. The use of FAO methodologies for calculating the prevalence of undernourishment under SDG 2 and the food loss index under SDG 12 made it possible to estimate these two indicators using BAs and other related indicators. The results in 2015 show that Benin and Guinea with respectively 14.2% and 15.6% of the population with a prevalence of undernourishment are ahead of Mali with 5%. In terms of individuals, estimates give 1.5 million Beninese, 1.2 million Guineans and 0.9 million Malians who were undernourished in 2015.

Understanding the Tradition of Male Calf Release in Tambakan Village of Bali Island, Indonesia from the Perspective of History, Religion, Environment Sustainability and Food Security

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luh Putu Puspawati ◽  
I Made Swastika ◽  
Tjokorda Udiana Nindhia Pemayun ◽  
Tjokorda Gde Tirta Nindhia
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
The People ◽  
Environment Sustainability ◽  
The Village

Historically the tradition of male calf release in Tambakan Villlage was initiated from the vow of the defeated soldier of the kingdom of Buleleng over the kingdom of Bangli in the Island of Bali in the region of present day Indonesia. The defeated soldiers of Buleleng were hiding in the forest around the presentday village of Tambakan, Buleleng, Bali. All the soldiers vowed to the Deity dwelling in the forest to hand over a male calf if they survived the pursuit of the enemy. In the end, the enemy could not find them and the soldiers remained in the forest and continued their lives there. The village was named as Tambakan, meaning a buffer of enemy attack. The village was surrounded by a fence made from bamboo during that time. The soldiers then paid their vows by releasing male calves into the forest. This historical incident then developed to become a belief of the local peoples that if they vow to release a male calf to the Deity, then their wish will be fulfilled. Indeed many wishes of the people did come true when they released a male calf to the forest. Consequently, the population of the bulls increased in the forest, and by the influence of the Hindu Tantra sect, about 23 bulls from the forest are taken out every 2 years to be sacrificed in the temples addressed to Goddess of Durga. The meat of the sacrificed bulls is then distributed to the members of the village to be consumed. The releases of male calves gives benefit to environmental sustainability and the distribution of the meat after sacrificing guarantees food security for the people.

scholarly journals Introducing a Degrowth Approach to the Circular Economy Policies of Food Production, and Food Loss and Waste Management: Towards a Circular Bioeconomy

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Hoehn ◽  
Jara Laso ◽  
María Margallo ◽  
Israel Ruiz-Salmón ◽  
Francisco José Amo-Setién ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Food Production ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Food Loss ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Assessment Approach ◽  
New Policies

There is a growing debate surrounding the contradiction between an unremitting increase in the use of resources and the search for environmental sustainability. Therefore, the concept of sustainable degrowth is emerging aiming to introduce in our societies new social values and new policies, capable of satisfying human requirements whilst reducing environmental impacts and consumption of resources. In this framework, circular economy strategies for food production and food loss and waste management systems, following the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, are being developed based on a search for circularity, but without setting limits to the continual increase in environmental impacts and resource use. This work presents a methodology for determining the percentage of degrowth needed in any food supply chain, by analyzing four scenarios in a life cycle assessment approach over time between 2020 and 2040. Results for the Spanish case study suggested a degrowth need of 26.8% in 2015 and 58.9% in 2040 in order to achieve compliance with the Paris Agreement targets, highlighting the reduction of meat and fish and seafood consumption as the most useful path.

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