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The Global Benefits of Reducing Food Loss and Waste, and How to Do It

• Food Loss and Waste
• food security

One-third of all food produced globally by weight is lost or wasted between farm and fork — that's  more than 1 billion tonnes . Converted into calories, this equates to 24% of the world’s food supply going uneaten. At the same time,  1 in 10 people globally remain malnourished.

This scale of food loss and waste harms not only human health and nutrition but also economies and the environment. Wasted food takes a major financial toll, costing the global economy more than $1 trillion every year. It also fuels climate change, accounting for approximately 8%-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

And if current trends persist, food loss and waste will double by 2050.

Here, we delve into the scope of this challenge and the global benefits of reducing food loss and waste, as well as solutions at the individual, local and national levels.

What Causes Food Loss and Waste?

While food loss and food waste are often talked about together, these terms encompass different issues throughout the food system. Food loss refers to loss at or near the farm and in the supply chain, for example, during harvesting, storage or transport. Food waste occurs at the retail level, in hospitality and in households.

Food loss and waste are caused by a wide range of issues, from technological challenges to consumer behaviors. Some common drivers of food loss include:

• Inadequate technology : Poor infrastructure, such as roads that flood or are hard to travel consistently, can prevent food from making it from farm to table. Lack of cold storage is another major concern for ensuring food can arrive fresh to markets. Farmers may also struggle with inadequate equipment such as old or inefficient machinery that makes it difficult to harvest all of a crop.
• Suboptimal packaging : How foods are packaged can make a big difference in the length of time they stay safe to eat. Many people are justly concerned about the environmental impacts of excessive packaging, but it’s important to remember that correct packaging can help foods stay fresher for longer, thereby reducing spoilage and the associated  methane emissions  that result from wasted food. An underappreciated fact is that the environmental impact of wasted food is greater than that of packaging waste. So, while it’s important to limit this waste, it’s also important to use correct packaging to reduce food spoilage.

Some common reasons for food waste include:

• Poor food management : Examples include insufficient skills and knowledge among staff who prepare food, which can lead to unnecessary waste during cooking, and inflexible procurement requirements such as retailers only stocking perfect-looking produce or not accepting a farmer’s oversupply of crop. Food waste can also occur when retailers and food providers do not adequately forecast and plan for demand to meet supply (or vice versa).
• Consumer behaviors : Households account for the majority of food wasted at the consumer and retail level. This often results from a lack of awareness of the scale of the issue and insufficient education about how to properly use up and store food at home. Food waste also stems from  norms and attitudes  that say wasting food is normal, as well as concerns about possible risks of eating food past its sell-by or use-by date label.

There used to be a view that food waste, which happens at the consumer level, tended to be more of a developed country problem while food loss, which can arise from issues in farming and supply chains, was a greater problem in developing countries. But recent research has shown this isn’t true.

Work by the  UN Environment Programme  shows that food waste occurs at roughly the same level in middle-income countries as in high-income countries. Good-quality data is still limited, but there is a reasonable amount of information to back up this conclusion. Similarly, recent work by the  World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF)  concluded that food loss on farms is a problem in high-income countries as well as middle- and lower-income countries. These recent studies show that both issues must be addressed on a global scale.

The Global Benefits of Reducing Food Loss and Waste

The  UN’s Sustainable Development Goals  include a call to halve food waste and reduce food losses by 2030 for good reason. Reducing food loss and waste generates benefits for economies, for businesses and consumers, for human health and for the environment.

Improved global nutrition and food security

Reducing food loss and waste can play a big role in providing a healthy, nutritious diet to a growing global population. Not only does one third of all food produced by volume go uneaten, but perishable foods with higher nutritional value, such as fruit and vegetables, are particularly prone to loss and waste: More than 40% of produce by weight is lost or wasted worldwide each year. Ensuring more of the global food supply is used to feed people, rather than perishing or ending up in landfills, is an important strategy for addressing hunger in a world where hundreds of millions still face malnutrition.

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions

Project Drawdown  has listed reducing food loss and waste as the single-best strategy for reducing emissions and fighting the climate crisis. Because up to 10% of global emissions result from food loss and waste, it’s simply not possible to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal to stay within 1.5-2 degrees C (2.7-3.6 degrees F) of warming without tackling this issue.

Emissions from food loss and waste result from the energy and inputs used to produce food that’s ultimately not consumed, as well as the methane that’s emitted when food rots in fields or landfills. Although shorter lived than carbon dioxide, methane is an especially potent greenhouse gas with over  80 times the warming power  of CO2. By reducing food loss and waste, we avoid its associated planet-warming emissions.

Improving existing food systems  will also help the world feed more people without expanding cultivated areas. Agricultural expansion is a major driver of greenhouse gas emission s and often results in deforestation, which releases stored carbon dioxide and lowers the land’s carbon storage capacity. In addition, increasing the efficiency of food production could potentially liberate agricultural land for reforestation, an important way to  remove carbon  from the atmosphere. 

WRI has identified alleviating land use pressures — through efforts like reducing the need to produce more food to compensate for loss and waste — as a key strategy to address  the global land squeeze .

Financial savings for businesses and consumers and increased financial security for farmers

Reducing consumer food waste by even 20%-25% by 2030 could save the world an estimated  $120-$300 billion  per year. These savings play out on an individual level as well as a systemic one; by consuming more of what they purchase, households can reduce their overall spending on food. Eliminating avoidable food waste would save the average family in the United Kingdom more than £700 ($870) each year, while in the United States, the average family would save approximately $1,800.

Reducing food losses — especially post-harvest losses, including food that’s grown but never makes it to market — will also improve farmers’ incomes.

Without the resources to buy up-to-date equipment, many farmers must rely on manual approaches or old, broken equipment that limits their potential yields. Targeted loans and financing can help these farmers buy better equipment, allowing them to harvest more and better-quality crops in a shorter amount of time. The efficiency savings may then lead to higher income. In addition, many smallholder farmers are women who would especially benefit from access to finance and new equipment; reduced food losses could mean they are better positioned to feed, educate and care for their families.

How to Reduce Food Loss and Waste at a Systemic Level

Because food loss and waste happen at every stage of the supply chain, everyone has a vital role to play in addressing this issue.

Households can reduce food waste by focusing on smart shopping and food storage. Some strategies include writing a shopping list, planning meals so that when you go shopping you know what and how much you need, understanding the difference between use-by and best-by date labels, making sure your fridge is set to the optimal temperature, understanding how best to store different foods and making the most of your freezer for leftovers.

Restaurants

Restaurants can reduce food waste by monitoring and managing food usage and ordering. Strategies include measuring food waste in the kitchen to understand what foods are being wasted and designing a fix, engaging staff to understand the importance of minimizing waste, avoiding super-sized portions, and focusing on a smaller range of menu offerings in order to better forecast supply ordering.

In September 2022, Ingka Group, IKEA’s largest retailer, became the  world’s first major company  to cut food waste in half, having done so across all its IKEA restaurants in 32 markets. Such savings can also bring financial benefits for restaurants, with the average restaurant examined in a Champions 12.3 study saving  $7 for every $1 invested  in programs to combat food waste.

Retailers can reduce food waste by improving stocking and food handling practices. Strategies include measuring the amounts and types of food being wasted to identify hotspots that can be reduced; training staff in temperature management, product handling and stock rotation; accepting less-than-perfect looking produce; and educating customers about better food management — for example, how to meal plan and understand date labels, and tips for safe food handling at home.

Many retailers in the UK now include storage advice on food packs (such as “Store in the fridge”) and give customers menu cards with ideas for cooking the produce or foods they purchase. Some are also removing “Best before” date labels from fruit and vegetables, which can help consumers avoid throwing away food that is still perfectly edible. Retailers are explicitly telling customers that these measures are intended to reduce waste and encouraging people to use their senses to tell if food is still good to eat.

Food producers

Farmers, ranchers and fishers can reduce food losses by improving farming practices; for example, by ensuring produce is harvested at the right maturity and using appropriate harvesting equipment to maximize yield while minimizing crop damage. They can also improve their skills or use tools to better schedule harvesting, including accessing better data on weather via new apps like  Mausam  (which is published by India's Ministry of Earth Sciences). And they can engage customers such as wholesale retailers to communicate implications of order changes.

Food distributers

Packing, storage and distribution facilities can reduce food loss and waste by re-examining handling, storage and transportation to ensure adoption of best practices and reduce damage. They can also use technological interventions to optimize the transport of food, and work upstream with customers to provide planning tools and handling and storage technologies that help them reduce losses.

For example, bar coding is being used to track food’s transportation journey, so managers can know where a product has been, for how long, and in what temperatures and conditions. This allows retailers to more accurately label and handle food to maximize shelf life, while also providing traceability in the event of a recall.

Processors and manufacturers

Processors and manufacturers can reduce food loss and waste by implementing technical solutions in the supply chain. Strategies include improving training to reduce technical malfunctions and errors during processing, reengineering production processes and product design to reduce waste, using product sizes and packaging that reduce waste by consumers and standardizing date labels to reduce confusion.

Governments and policymakers

Governments and policymakers can reduce food loss and waste through educational programs, policies and financial incentives that support more efficient food production and distribution. For example, they can embed food loss awareness, technical assistance and financial aid into agricultural extension services and farmer subsidy programs.

Governments can also promote policies to prevent unfair trading practices (such as last-minute order cancellations and unilateral or retroactive changes to contracts); remove barriers to food redistribution via policies such as liability limitations and tax breaks, which make it easier for food suppliers to donate safe but unsold food to charities or those in need; and support policies to standardize food date labelling practices to reduce confusion about product safety and quality and improve consumer understanding of the meaning of date labels. Finally, governments can make measurement and reporting of food loss and waste by large companies mandatory to facilitate benchmarking, transparency and learning.

Learn more about WRI’s work  Fighting Food Loss and Waste .

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• University of Illinois
• College of ACES

Food Waste: An Introduction to the Issue and Questions that Remain

Food waste is a problem throughout the supply chain and across the globe that is increasingly capturing the attention of policymakers. Gustavsson et al. (2011) estimated that one-third of the food produced for consumption globally is lost or wasted. Within the U.S., Buzby et al. (2014) estimated that 31% of food available at the retail and consumer levels was wasted, which translates to a loss of $161 billion and 141 trillion calories per year (enough calories to feed ~ 193,000,000 people a daily diet of 2,000 calories for a year!) – not to mention the loss of the (scarce) resource inputs like land, water, and energy that went into food production.

How is food waste defined?

Discussions on food waste may also reference the term “food loss”; the terms sound synonymous, but there are distinctions between the two. An ERS report by Buzby et al. (2014) uses the following definitions for food loss and food waste:

• “ Food loss represents the amount of edible food, postharvest, that is available for human consumption but is not consumed for any reason. It includes cooking loss and natural shrinkage; loss from mold, pests, or inadequate climate control; and plate waste.”
• “ Food waste is a component of food loss and occurs when an edible item goes unconsumed, such as food discarded by retailers due to undesirable color or blemishes and plate waste discarded by consumers.”

Efforts to address food loss have been ongoing in developing countries, such as improvements in harvesting and storage technology, biological controls, etc. For more on research addressing food loss (postharvest loss), see Affognon et al. (2015) and Hodges et al. (2011). Conversely, efforts to address food waste have been more recent. The remainder of this article focuses on the more narrowly defined issue of food waste.

What is being done to reduce food waste?

The costs of food waste (economic and otherwise) have driven efforts in both the public and private sectors to reduce food waste along the supply chain. In the public sector, there are national and international initiatives ( U.S. Food Waste Challenge and SAVE FOOD Initiative , respectively) that set waste reduction goals and are designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and best practices for waste reduction across the supply chain. Further, there has been an increase in legislation related to food waste. In the U.S., legislation was introduced to clarify date labeling (“sell by”, “use by”, “best by”, etc.) on food products. In France, a new law was passed that bans supermarkets from throwing away unsold food; instead, they will be required to donate it (Chrisafis, 2016). Although less recent, the South Korean government implemented a volume-based food waste fee system in 2010 where households are forced to pay based on the weight of their waste.

In the private sector, we have also seen the formation of knowledge-sharing groups (e.g., Food Waste Reduction Alliance ). In addition, many technological solutions have been introduced that are designed to help track waste (e.g., LeanPath ), more optimally plan, shop and cook, donate leftovers, and so on (Hutcherson, 2013). Finally, there has been an increase in the selling of “ugly” fruits and vegetables (those fruits and vegetables that would not normally comply with the cosmetic standards required by retailers). The movement is credited to a grocery retailer in France (Intermarche) but has quickly expanded.  Major U.S. retailers such as Walmart and Whole Foods are offering “ugly” fruits and vegetables in their produce sections.  Both efforts are currently in pilot phase, but with the intention to expand (see Godoy, 2016 for more information).

Questions that remain about food waste

While many reports and food waste reduction initiatives in the public and private sectors identify households (consumers) as one of the biggest sources of food waste, there has been little research to understand how households actually make decisions on throwing out food. Further, this decision is rarely framed as an economic decision, with costs and benefits. There are most certainly cases where the decision to waste may be optimal, depending on one’s preferences, incentives, and resource constraints. For instance, an individual may prefer to throw out milk that is several days past the expiration date rather than run the risk of becoming ill. In discussing his household production model, Becker (1965) suggests that Americans should be more wasteful than people in developing countries because the opportunity cost of their time exceeds the market prices of food and other goods. Thus, it will be critical for future research to account for the different factors that play a role in the keep/waste decision to determine the tradeoffs consumers make in this process.

In addition to examining the waste decision in economic terms, it will be important to explore the heterogeneity across consumers when making these decisions. In other words, we may be able to identify that, in general, consumers will be more averse to wasting food when the cost of that food was high or when there is a replacement readily available; however, some types of people may be even more or less responsive to such factors than the average person. Research has already suggested that income may impact a household’s likelihood of wasting food (Becker, 1965; Daniel, 2016; Qi and Roe, 2016); however, other factors such as age, education, SNAP participation, etc. should also be examined. Understanding these differences may enable policymakers or advocacy groups to better tailor educational efforts to high-waste households.

A final question related to household food waste is: how do we motivate households to change their behavior? Though many ideas come to mind (e.g., education campaigns, waste taxes or waste reduction subsidies, changes in portion sizes or packaging), the answer to this question will likely depend on the household waste decision process, so it is imperative to understand this first before making policy recommendations.

Future articles on food waste will provide insight on some of my own research in this area, including preliminary results from an online survey where we attempt to learn more about the household waste decision process. Additionally, I will share information on my ongoing plate waste study in the University of Illinois dining halls.

References:

Affognon, Hippolyte, Christopher Mutungi, Pascal Sanginga, and Christian Borgemeister. 2015. “Unpacking Postharvest Losses in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Meta-Analysis.” World Development , 66:49-68.

Becker, Gary S. 1965. “A Theory on the Allocation of Time.” The Economic Journal , 75(299):493-517.

Buzby, Jean C., Hodan F. Wells, and Jeffrey Hyman. 2014. “The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States.” USDA Economic Research Service, Washington, DC, USA.

Chrisafis, Angelique. 2016. “French Law Forbids Food Waste by Supermarkets.” The Guardian , Available at http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/20/486664266/walmart-world-s-largest-grocer-is-now-selling-ugly-fruit-and-veg .

Daniel, Caitlin. 2016. “Economic Constraints on Taste Formation and the True Cost of Healthy Eating.” Social Science & Medicine , 148:34-41.

Godoy, Maria. 2016. “Wal-Mart, America’s Largest Grocer, Is Now Selling Ugly Fruit and Vegetables.” NPR The Salt , Available at http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/20/486664266/walmart-world-s-largest-grocer-is-now-selling-ugly-fruit-and-veg .

Gustavsson, Jenny, Christel Cederberg, Ulf Sonesson, Robert van Otterdijk, and Alexandre Meybeck. 2011. “Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention.” Food and Agricultural Organization, Rome, Italy.

Hodges, R. J., J. C. Buzby, and B. Bennett. 2011. “Postharvest Losses and Waste in Developed and Less Developed Countries: Opportunities to Improve Resource Use.” Journal of Agricultural Science , 149:37-45.

Hutcherson, Aaron. 2013. “Waste Not, Want Not: 6 Technologies to Reduce Food Waste.” Food+Tech Connect. Available at https://foodtechconnect.com/2013/10/02/waste-not-want-not-6-technologies-to-reduce-food-waste/ .

Qi, Danyi, and Brian E. Roe. 2016. “Household Food Waste: Multivariate Regression and Principal Components Analyses of Awareness and Attitudes among U.S. Consumers.” PLoS ONE , 11(7): e0159250.

food loss , food waste , SNAP

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Sustainable Management of Food Basics

On this page:

What is Wasted Food and Where Does it Come From?

Conserving resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, helping people, saving money, sources of statistics, what is sustainable management of food.

Sustainable Management of Food is an approach that seeks to reduce wasted food and its associated impacts over the entire life cycle, starting with the use of natural resources, manufacturing, sales, consumption, and ending with decisions on recovery or final disposal. 

EPA works to promote innovation and highlight the value and efficient management of food as a resource. Through the sustainable management of food, we can conserve resources for future generations, reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, help businesses and consumers save money, and provide access to food for those who do not have enough to eat. To build a circular economy for all, EPA seeks to highlight opportunities to use raw materials more efficiently, enable those resources to be used for their highest value, and recover valuable resources from discarded materials in ways that address climate change, are inclusive of all communities, address environmental justice concerns, and help spur new innovation and economic growth. 

Looking for wasted food infographics?

Check out the Sustainable Management of Food Graphics webpage to find EPA’s infographics on wasted food, composting and more!

The term “ wasted food ” describes food that was not used for its intended purpose and is managed in a variety of ways described below. EPA uses the overarching term “wasted food” instead of “food waste” for food that was not used for its intended purpose because it conveys that a valuable resource is being wasted, whereas “food waste” implies that the food no longer has value and needs to be managed as waste.

• Wasted food is an overarching term to describe food that was not used for its intended purpose and is managed in a variety of ways, such as donation to feed people, creation of animal feed, composting, anaerobic digestion, or disposal in landfills or combustion facilities. Examples include unsold food from retail stores; plate waste, uneaten prepared food, or kitchen trimmings from restaurants, cafeterias, and households; or by-products from food and beverage processing facilities. The term wasted food can be used to refer to both excess food and food waste.
• Excess food (or surplus food) often refers to food that is donated to feed people.
• Food waste often refers to food not ultimately consumed by humans that is discarded or recycled, such as plate waste (i.e., food that has been served but not eaten), spoiled food, or peels and rinds considered inedible. For purposes of Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3, food waste occurs at the retail, food service, and residential levels and is managed by landfill; controlled combustion; sewer; litter, discards and refuse; co/anaerobic digestion; compost/aerobic digestion; and land application.
• Food loss often refers to unused product from the agricultural sector, such as unharvested crops. For purposes of Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3, food loss occurs from production up to (and not including) the retail level.

EPA encourages anyone managing wasted food to reference the Wasted Food Scale , which prioritizes actions that can be taken to prevent and divert wasted food from disposal. The most preferred pathways – prevent wasted food, donate and upcycle food – offer the most benefits to the environment, to communities, and to a circular economy.

Why is Sustainable Management of Food Important?

Wasted food is both a growing problem and an untapped opportunity.  In 2019 alone, EPA estimates that about 66 million tons of wasted food were generated in the food retail, food service, and residential sectors, and most of this waste (about 60%) was sent to landfills. EPA estimated that in 2018 in the U.S., more food reached landfills and combustion facilities than any other single material in our everyday trash (24 percent of the amount landfilled and 22 percent of the amount combusted with energy recovery). Additionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that in 2010, 31 percent or 133 billion pounds of the 430 billion pounds of food available at the retail and consumer levels was not eaten, valued at almost $162 billion. 1   Globally, the United Nations estimates that approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted – 13 percent of food is lost before reaching retail, and 19 percent is wasted from retail to consumer. 2 , 3 At the same time, food loss and waste generates 8-10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Each year, the emissions caused by wasted food in the U.S. are greater than the emissions from all domestic flights within the U.S. plus all international flights run by U.S. airlines. 4

When food is wasted, so is the opportunity to nourish people. When food is wasted, so are all the resources that went into producing, processing, distributing, and preparing that food.

Taking simple steps in your everyday life can make a difference in addressing this issue. Reducing wasted food is a triple win; it's good for the environment, for communities, and for the economy.

Reducing wasted food does great things for the environment:

• Saves Resources – When food is wasted, it also wastes the resources – such as the land, water, energy, and labor – that go into growing, storing, processing, distributing, and preparing that food. Each year, food loss and waste take up an area of agricultural land the size of California and New York combined. This is enough energy to power 50 million U.S. homes for a year, and generate emissions (excluding landfill emissions) equal to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 42 coal-fired power plants. 5
• Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions – The majority of greenhouse gas emissions from wasted food results from activities prior to disposal, including production, transport, processing, and distribution. Once food goes uneaten, it must be managed through one of various pathways, such as donation, upcycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, or landfilling – all of which also produce greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce these emissions, we need to prevent food from being wasted in the first place and sustainably manage what wasted food cannot be prevented.
• Food Waste and Methane: What’s the Connection? (pdf) (2.1 MB).
• Desperdicio de alimentos y metano: ¿cuál es la relación? (pdf) (1.3 MB).
• Returns Nutrients to the Soil – Even when we take all actions to use wasted food, certain inedible parts remain and can be turned into compost to feed and nourish the soil. Composting these wastes  creates a product that can be used to help improve soils, grow the next generation of crops, and improve water quality.
• Supports a Circular Economy – Preventing food from being wasted, using food for its highest value which is to nourish humans, and recovering valuable nutrients from wasted food are all activities that support a circular economy by reducing stress on natural resources, empowering communities, growing local economies, and spurring innovation.

In 2021, the EPA released the first of two reports in a series on the environmental impacts of wasted food to inform domestic policymakers, researchers, and the public about the environmental benefits that can be achieved by reducing U.S. food loss and waste. The Part 1 report, From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste , examines the environmental impacts of wasted food from production to consumption. EPA released Part 2,  From Field to Bin: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste Management Pathways, in 2023, which completes the analysis by examining the different ways wasted food is managed. The results of this research are the basis for EPA’s Wasted Food Scale.

Preventing and sustainably managing wasted food and recovering wholesome, nutritious food can help you make a difference in your community:

• Feed Children – The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that five million children lived in food-insecure households in 2021. 7 By redirecting food that would otherwise be wasted to homes and schools, we can help feed our country’s children.
• Build Cleaner Communities – Reducing waste and improving waste management can help create cleaner communities. Equitable access to food and processing wasted food into soil amendments can improve soil health, generate renewable energy, and keep economic and job benefits of organics recycling in those communities.
• Create Job Opportunities – Recovering and recycling wasted food through donation, salvaging, processing, anaerobic digestion, and composting strengthens infrastructure and creates jobs. Food recycling in these sectors employs more than 36,000 people, supporting local economies and promoting innovation. 8
• Feed the World – According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, from between 702 and 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021. 9 They predict that by eliminating food loss and wasted food we would have enough food to feed all the chronically undernourished. They also expect that we would not have to increase food production or put additional pressure on our natural resources to do so. 10

When we waste food, we’re not just creating a problem, we’re also missing an opportunity to save businesses and consumers money:

• Waste Less and Spend Less – You or your organization can spend less and waste less by buying only the food you will use. Preventing wasted food can also reduce energy and labor costs associated with throwing away good food. 
• Pay Less for Trash Pickup – Organizations might pay less for trash pickup by keeping wasted food out of the garbage. Some haulers lower fees if wasted food is separated from the trash and sent to an organics recycling facility instead of the landfill.
• Receive Tax Benefits by Donating – If you donate healthy, safe, and edible food to hungry people, your organization can claim tax benefits. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act protects food donors from legal liability.
• United States Department of Agriculture,  The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States .
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving Forward on Food Loss and Waste Reduction (pdf) (13.2 MB, 2019) . 
• United Nations Environment Programme, Food Waste Index Report 2024 .
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Food wastage footprint & Climate Change (pdf) (5.4 MB, 2015) .
• United States Environmental Protection Agency, From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of Food Waste (pdf) (11.8 MB, 2021) . 
• United States Environmental Protection Agency, Quantifying Methane Emissions from Landfilled Food Waste (pdf)   (1.77 MB, 2023).
• United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, Food Security in the U.S.: Key Statistics & Graphs .
• United States Environmental Protection Agency, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2016 Recycling Economic Information Report Methodology (pdf) (2.4 MB, 2016) .
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Fund for Agriculture Development, the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022. Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable .
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Fund for Agriculture Development and the World Food Programme, The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014. Strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition (pdf) (3 MB, 2014) .
• Sustainable Management of Food Home
• Wasted Food Scale
• Prevention through Source Reduction
• Donating Food
• Anaerobic Digestion
• Preventing Wasted Food at Home
• Tools for Preventing and Diverting Wasted Food
• Funding Opportunities and EPA Programs Related to the Food System
• Local and Regional Resources
• Data on Wasted Food in the U.S.

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A Methodology for Sustainable Management of Food Waste

• Original Paper
• Open access
• Published: 25 October 2016
• Volume 8 , pages 2209–2227, ( 2017 )

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• Guillermo Garcia-Garcia   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5562-9197 1 ,
• Elliot Woolley 1 ,
• Shahin Rahimifard 1 ,
• James Colwill 1 ,
• Rod White 2 &
• Louise Needham 3  

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As much as one-third of the food intentionally grown for human consumption is never consumed and is therefore wasted, with significant environmental, social and economic ramifications. An increasing number of publications in this area currently consider different aspects of this critical issue, and generally focus on proactive approaches to reduce food waste, or reactive solutions for more efficient waste management. In this context, this paper takes a holistic approach with the aim of achieving a better understanding of the different types of food waste, and using this knowledge to support informed decisions for more sustainable management of food waste. With this aim, existing food waste categorizations are reviewed and their usefulness are analysed. A systematic methodology to identify types of food waste through a nine-stage categorization is used in conjunction with a version of the waste hierarchy applied to food products. For each type of food waste characterized, a set of waste management alternatives are suggested in order to minimize environmental impacts and maximize social and economic benefits. This decision-support process is demonstrated for two case studies from the UK food manufacturing sector. As a result, types of food waste which could be managed in a more sustainable manner are identified and recommendations are given. The applicability of the categorisation process for industrial food waste management is discussed.

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Food waste generation and its industrial utilization: An overview

Waste Valorization in Food Industries: A Review of Sustainable Approaches

Sustainable Food Waste Management: A Review

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Introduction

Food waste is one of the most challenging issues humankind is currently facing worldwide. Currently, food systems are extremely inefficient: it is estimated that between one-third and one half of the food produced is lost before reaching a human mouth [ 1 , 2 ]. The Sustainable Development Goal 12 ‘Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’ established by the United Nations in 2015 includes a specific target for food waste reduction: halve per capita global food waste at retail and consumer levels by 2030. Additionally, it also includes a more general goal to reduce food losses along food supply chains [ 3 ]. Therefore, it is expected that there will be an increasing number of initiatives, campaigns and legislative developments in order to reach the aforementioned objectives.

Nevertheless, reduction of the current levels of food waste must be accompanied by better management of the waste: inevitably there will always be some food waste. Furthermore, some parts of the food products are inedible and will unavoidably become a waste stream. There are countless alternatives to manage food waste, however the most common solution worldwide is still landfilling [ 4 ], which is highly damaging to the environment and poses a risk to human health, whereas it does not provide any benefit. In spite of the progress achieved in recent years to find alternative solutions, particularly in developed nations, better management of food waste in supply chains is still required.

Sustainable management of food waste is a momentous research area that has rapidly grown over recent years. Meritorious examples of research aiming to find sustainable solutions for food waste management are numerous, but they have been generally inclined to look into only one area of sustainability: environmental, economic or social ramifications [ 5 , 6 ]. Recent research aims to expand the scope and consider two or even all three pillars of sustainability implications mentioned above. Remarkable examples are work by Münster et al. [ 7 ], Ahamed et al. [ 8 ] and Martinez-Sanchez et al. [ 9 ], who consider economic and environmental ramifications of food waste management.

Nevertheless, as the scope of this research area expands, systematic analyses are needed to obtain comparable results. Examples of frameworks with this aim have been developed for solid waste management (e.g. [ 10 , 11 ]), but are less common for food waste management. A recent example of this is the framework recently developed by Manfredi et al. [ 12 ], which provides a useful six-step methodology to evaluate environmental and economic sustainability of different alternatives to manage food waste, with the aim of also incorporating social considerations.

The waste hierarchy applied to food products is a useful tool to rank waste management alternatives by sustainability performance. The waste hierarchy concept was introduced for the first time into European waste policy in 1975 [ 13 ], and has been continuously used until today in European Directives which have been implemented since then. It is also used in the UK by the Government and institutions such as Defra [ 14 ] and WRAP [ 15 ], and has been implemented in UK law [ 16 ]. There is a considerable number of research papers published in prestigious scientific journals discussing the waste hierarchy, plenty of them focussed on food waste, e.g. [ 17 , 18 ]. More detailed information on the technologies described in the food waste hierarchy and their associated emissions can be found in the Best Available Techniques for the Waste Treatments Industries [ 19 ].

This paper describes a novel, systematic methodology to support sustainable decisions regarding management of food waste. With this objective, a nine-stage categorization and a version of the food waste hierarchy are used as a basis of a methodical procedure to identify types of food waste and alternative activities to manage them. As a result, a novel Food Waste Management Decision Tree is developed and discussed, and its applicability is tested using two case studies from the UK food manufacturing sector.

Methodology

Research aim and structure.

The decision as to which is the most beneficial waste management alternative to utilise to manage food waste is usually made considering fundamentally only economic reasons and availability of waste management facilities. Furthermore, legislation delimits the range of solutions applicable to manage different types of food waste and therefore the decision is often made considering only a few alternatives. This paper seeks to add environmental and social considerations to the decision-making process so that more sustainable solutions can be achieved from the range of feasible waste management options. With this aim, the structure of the research presented in this paper is as follows: firstly, the definition of food waste used throughout this paper is provided; secondly, previous categorizations of food waste are discussed; thirdly, a categorization process is described based on the most pertinent indicators to classify food wastes; fourthly, the different types of food waste identified are linked to their most appropriate waste management alternatives, building a Food Waste Management Decision Tree; and finally, the categorization process is illustrated with two case studies from the UK food industry. A visual model of the research approach used can be seen in Fig.  1 .

Structure of the research presented in this paper

Definition of Food Waste

The first aspect to look upon in order to improve food waste management is to define unambiguously the exact meaning of ‘food waste’. Unfortunately an agreement has not been reached yet and rather there are a range of definitions used. For consistency in this paper, food waste will be defined as food materials (including drinks) originally intended to be used to feed humans and not ultimately sold for human consumption by the food business under study, and inedible parts of food. Consequently, food sent to charities by companies is considered food waste in this paper, as it implies an economic loss to the food business, although from a biological and legal aspect this product remains being food and could be classified as surplus food. Inedible parts of food are also included in the definition because waste is often composed of both edible and inedible parts difficult to separate, and food businesses must manage this waste. Inedible food waste is thus considered unavoidable waste. Any food used in other way than for human consumption is also considered food waste (e.g. animal feeding, industrial uses). On the other hand, food wasted by consumers and managed at home (e.g. home composting) falls out of the scope of this paper. Clearly, the inclusion of these factors in the definition is debatable; this paper studies the management of these materials and therefore they have been included in the term ‘food waste’.

Review on Methods to Classify Food Waste

Categorization is a key step in order to identify the most appropriate waste management alternative for different types of food waste. Such categorization should consider all the divisions necessary to link different types of food waste with treatment methodologies in a way that their economic and social benefit are maximised and their environmental impact is minimized. Usually different studies use their own categorizations [ 20 ]. This section describes different attempts to classify food waste. These classifications are assessed and their usefulness to select optimal food waste management alternatives is discussed.

The most obvious categorization divides different types of food waste according to the type of food: cereals, fruits, meat, fish, drinks, etc. This categorization is useful to quantify the amount of food wasted based on mass (more commonly), energy content, economic cost, etc. There exist plenty of examples to classify food waste according to its food sector, e.g. [ 21 , 22 ]. This type of classification is typically based on codes, e.g. the recently published Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard recommends the use of the Codex Alimentarius General Standard for Food Additives (GSFA) system or the United Nations’ Central Product Classification (CPC) system as main codes, and when more precise classifications are needed, the Global Product Category (GPC) code or the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) as additional codes [ 23 ]. Additionally, food waste can be categorized with regard to its nutrient composition (e.g. carbohydrate and fat content [ 24 ]), chemical composition (e.g. C, H, N, O, S and Cl content [ 25 ]) or storage temperature (e.g. ambient, chilled or frozen [ 26 ]). Nonetheless, the information provided with these examples is not enough to prioritise some waste management alternatives against others.

In the UK, WRAP also identified the stages of the supply chain where food waste was generated (e.g. manufacturer, retailer) and assess the edibility of the waste. In this way, food waste can be avoidable (parts of the food that were actually edible), unavoidable (inedible parts of the food, such as bones, fruit skin, etc.) and possibly avoidable (food that some people would have eaten and others do not, such as bread crusts and potato skins) [ 27 ]. Different authors have further classified food waste at the household level as cooked/uncooked, as unpackaged/packaged food waste (when waste is packaged, it is additionally sorted as opened/unopened packaging) and according to their reason to disposal [ 28 – 30 ]. Other researchers also identified the leftovers and untouched food which goes to waste (e.g. [ 31 ]). Considering these options will be useful for a more comprehensive categorization, but there is still a lack of sections that further classify the waste in a way that a selection of the most appropriate waste management practice is facilitated. Furthermore, some of these classifications have been applied only to household food waste: a comprehensive categorization must include all stages of the food supply chain.

A more detailed attempt to classify food waste was carried out by Lin et al. [ 32 ], where food waste falls into the following categories: organic crop residue (including fruits and vegetables), catering waste, animal by-products, packaging, mixed food waste and domestic waste. In this study the potential for valorisation and some of the most appropriate options to manage the waste were assessed for each type of waste. However, the edibility of the waste and whether the food was fully processed during manufacturing were not considered.

Edjabou et al. [ 33 ] included two new factors: vegetable/animal-derived food waste and avoidable-processed/avoidable-unprocessed food waste. A more explicit classification with sub-categories was also suggested by Lebersorger and Schneider [ 20 ]. However the new sub-categories introduced, namely life cycle stage and packaging, are applicable only at the retail and household levels. They are irrelevant to improve the management of waste at other stages of the supply chain. On the other hand, Chabada et al. [ 34 ] used the ‘seven wastes’ approach from lean theory (namely transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing and defects) to classify categories of waste in fresh foods and identify the causes of waste generation, but not solutions for waste management. Garcia-Garcia et al. [ 35 ] suggested a number of indicators to classify food waste that provides useful information to delimit the range of waste management solutions applicable, nevertheless these indicators have not been used yet to identify the different types of food waste and propose the most appropriate waste management alternatives to manage them.

Therefore, a comprehensive and exhaustive analysis of all types of food waste has yet to be published. A holistic approach, where all relevant sub-categories of food wastes are identified and assessed, is necessary to support effective waste management. A solution to fill this knowledge gap is described in the following sections of this paper.

Indicators to Classify Food Waste

The previous section of the paper highlights the lack of a standardised and holistic approach to food waste management and the need for a classification process applicable to all types of food wastes as defined previously. The final aim of such a classification is to provide support for a better selection of alternatives to manage food waste. Any scheme should allow prioritisation of sustainability decisions in terms of the three pillars of sustainability:

Economic ramifications, which can be either positive (economic benefit obtained from management of the waste) or negative (economic cost to dispose of the waste).

Environmental impacts, which are usually negative (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions), but can also be positive (e.g. use of waste for the removal of pollutants in wastewater).

Social considerations, which can be either positive (e.g. food redistributed to people in need) or negative (e.g. increased taxes).

The categorization proposed in this paper is based on nine indicators as explained by Garcia-Garcia et al. [ 35 ] and shown in Fig.  2 . The assessment of these characteristics provides a systematic classification of the different types of food waste that enables a more appropriate selection amongst the available waste management alternatives. In each stage of the categorization process, one characteristic out of two or three options must be selected. Clarification of the different indicators can be found below:

Indicators to categorize food waste. Adapted from Garcia-Garcia et al. [ 35 ]

Edibility : the product is edible if it is or has been expected to be consumed by humans at any point during its life cycle, otherwise the product is inedible. Inedible products include fruit skins, meat bones, some vegetable stalks, etc. When the product is edible from a biological point of view, but there is no demand for it (e.g. some types of offal, spent grain from breweries) it is considered inedible in this scheme, as it is not possible to reallocate it for human consumption. Therefore, the edibility of some food wastes can vary over time and geographical area considered. Various foods contain inedible parts when they are sold (e.g. banana and its skin); these food products are considered edible.

State : this characteristic must be assessed only for edible products. The product is eatable if it has not lost the required properties to be sold and fit for human consumption at the moment of its management as waste, otherwise the product is uneatable. If the food had not lost those properties, but requires further processing in the factory before being sold or consumed, it is classified as eatable and unprocessed (see indicator 6). A food product can become uneatable by being damaged at different points of the supply chain (e.g. overcooked during its manufacture, spilled during its distribution), being spoiled (e.g. leaving the cold chain), passing its use-by date, etc. If a product contains both uneatable and eatable parts and it is going to be managed as a whole, it must be considered uneatable. When the product is eatable from a biological point of view, there may still be ethical issues that can lead to classify it as uneatable to restrict its usage for human consumption, for instance to prevent using surplus alcoholic drinks for redistribution to charities, or products of lower quality to an acceptable established level. A third category includes products uneatable for humans because of safety concerns, but still fit for animal feeding (e.g. fallen from conveyor belts during manufacturing).

Origin : the product is animal based if it was produced by an animal (e.g. dairy products, eggs, honey) or using parts of animals (meat, including fish), otherwise the product is plant based. When the product contains both plant and animal-based materials (e.g. ready meals), it must be classified according to its predominant ingredient. If this is a plant ingredient the product will be also classified as a mixed product (see next categorization stage).

Complexity : this characteristic is only required for plant-based products. The product is single if it is formed of only one type of ingredient and it has not been in contact with other food material, otherwise the product is mixed.

Animal product presence : when the product is animal based, it must be categorized as meat (including fish), animal product (a product produced by animals) or by-product from animal bodies not intended for human consumption (e.g. by-products from slaughterhouses). In the last case, the waste should be further classified according to European regulations into Category 1, 2 or 3 [ 36 ]. When the product is plant based and mixed, it must be assessed as to whether the product contains any animal-based material or has been in contact with animal-based material.

Treatment : a food is considered processed when it has the same properties as the final product to be sold to the consumer (i.e. it has completed the manufacturing process, e.g. a ready meal; or the food does not need any processing before being distributed, e.g. fresh fruits and vegetables). If the food still needed any treatment at the moment of its management as waste it is unprocessed. Consequently, only edible and eatable waste should be assessed in this stage.

Packaging : a product is unpackaged if it is not contained in any packaging material. If the product is packaged but there is an available technology for unpacking and separating the food waste from its packaging, the product can be considered unpackaged; otherwise the product is packaged.

Packaging biodegradability : this characteristic must be assessed for packaged foods. Commonly, biodegradability of a material means that it can be digested by microorganisms, although the process may last for several months or years. Therefore, in this paper biodegradable packaging refers to that made of materials which have been tested and received a certificate of being “suitable for anaerobic digestion” or “compostable” in a technical composting plant (e.g. ‘DIN CERTCO’ logo and the ‘OK compost’ logo). Biodegradable packaging is generally composed of paper, bioplastics, wood or any plant-based product. Typically non-biodegradable packaging is made of plastic, glass or metal.

Stage of the supply chain : catering waste includes domestic waste and waste from food services (e.g. restaurants, schools, hospitals, etc.); non-catering waste is generated in earlier stages of the supply chain (i.e. during farming, manufacturing, distribution or retailing).

The assessment of these nine stages, and the consequent determination of nine characteristics, is the starting point to select the most convenient waste management alternative. The hypothesis of this work is that each combination of nine indicators has associated with it one most favourable solution. The nine-stage categorization scheme is intended to be easy to apply and determinative for selection of the optimal waste management alternatives, taking into account regulations and economic, environmental and social ramifications. The next chapter proposes a set of waste management alternatives for the different food waste types identified following the categorization based on the nine indicators explained in this section.

Development and Partial Results

Having identified and classified the different food wastes following the guidelines presented in the previous section, the next step is to identify and analyse the food waste management alternatives. In order to do so, the waste hierarchy applied to food products is an appropriate tool to classify the different options to manage food waste, based on the sustainability of its results. The particular order of the different options in the hierarchy (i.e. the preference of some alternatives against others) is debatable (e.g. anaerobic digestion is considered better than composting), but the final aim is to prioritize options with better environmental, economic and social outcomes. Hence, there are several slightly different adaptations of the food waste hierarchy, however the most recent versions are usually based on the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC [ 37 ]. An example of a food waste hierarchy which aims to prioritise sustainable management alternatives can be seen in Fig.  3 ; it is based on previous versions, including those of Defra et al. [ 14 ], Adenso-Diaz and Mena [ 38 ], Papargyropoulou et al. [ 17 ] and Eriksson et al. [ 18 ].

Waste hierarchy for surplus food and food waste. Adapted from Garcia-Garcia et al. [ 35 ] and based on Defra et al. [ 14 ], Adenso-Diaz and Mena [ 38 ], Papargyropoulou et al. [ 17 ] and Eriksson et al. [ 18 ]

It is difficult to apply a waste hierarchy to food products due to the heterogeneity of these materials and the numbers of actors at different stages of the food supply chain that waste food. Therefore, the waste hierarchy must be assessed for each type of food waste, rather than for ‘food waste’ as a whole. This case-specific application of the waste hierarchy has been also recommended by Rossi et al. in their analysis of the applicability of the waste hierarchy for dry biodegradable packaging [ 39 ].

In this paper, environmental, economic and social ramifications associated with food waste management are considered, but impacts of the food during its life cycle are not included as they do not affect food waste management decisions (i.e. the impacts have already occurred before the food was wasted). Consequently, a life-cycle approach was not necessary to assess different alternatives and only end-of-life impacts were studied.

In order to link the categorization process and the waste management alternatives from the food waste hierarchy, the indicators described previously have been firstly used to identify the different types of food waste. Each indicator has been assessed and the superfluous categories for each indicator have been eliminated to simplify the analysis (e.g. state for inedible waste). The optimal waste management alternatives have been identified for each type of food waste in compliance with UK and European regulations and based on the food waste hierarchy, therefore prioritising the most sustainable solutions (Fig.  3 ). The result of this analysis has been represented in a diagram (namely Food Waste Management Decision Tree, FWMDT) that helps with analysing food waste using the indicators described. This FWMDT has been divided into four parts for display purposes and can be seen in Fig.  4 (edible, eatable animal-based food waste), Fig.  5 (edible, eatable, plant-based food waste), Fig.  6 (edible, uneatable food waste) and Fig.  7 (inedible and uneatable for humans, eatable for animals food waste).

Food Waste Management Decision Tree (FWMDT). Edible, eatable, animal-based food wastes and their most convenient waste management alternatives

Food Waste Management Decision Tree (FWMDT). Edible, eatable, plant-based food wastes and their most convenient waste management alternatives

Food Waste Management Decision Tree (FWMDT). Edible, uneatable food wastes and their most convenient waste management alternatives

Food Waste Management Decision Tree (FWMDT). Inedible and uneatable for humans, eatable for animals food wastes and their most convenient waste management alternatives. The list of materials classified as animal by-products categories 1–3 can be found in [ 36 ]

The FWMDT functions as a flowchart. The user begins at the highest level, and selects the indicator that best describes the food waste (e.g. edible or inedible). The user then moves through subsequent levels of the diagram, following the arrows and making further indicator selections. At the bottom the user is presented with a set of waste management alternatives that differ according to the set of indicators for that food type.

The food waste must be broken down for analysis into the same subgroups as for the treatments to be applied, e.g. if a food business generates both plant-based waste and animal-based waste which are collected and treated separately, they must be also assessed independently. However, if a producer of convenience foods produces undifferentiated waste composed of both plant and animal products, this must be studied as a whole. In the latter example, the waste is classified as a mixed product. It is readily seen that separate collection provides the benefit that more targeted management practices can be carried out on the different food waste streams. When separate collection is not possible, a thorough waste sorting is still recommended, although some of the alternatives will not be available then (e.g. plant-based food waste that has been in contact with meat cannot be used for animal feeding).

The development of a categorization that covers all types of food waste is arduous due to the number of waste types and their dissimilarity. Similarly, there are numerous alternatives for food waste management. In Fig.  3 some of these numerous alternatives have been grouped—for instance, all processes for extracting substances from all types of food waste are included in extraction of compounds of interest. This is because there are dozens of chemical and physical routes to obtain bio-compounds from food products, and also numerous possibilities to use different types of food waste for industrial applications such as removal of pollutants from wastewater. It is therefore unfeasible to consider all these options explicitly for all the food waste categories. Consequently, in all cases when there are management alternatives other than redistribution and animal feeding suggested in the FWMDT, a targeted study for each type of waste must be carried out in order to find what opportunities there are to extract compounds of interest or for industrial use, before considering options lower down in the food waste hierarchy.

Additionally, prevention of food waste generation is not included in the FWMDT because is out of the scope of this research, and also this option would be always prioritised, as it is at the top of the food waste hierarchy and can potentially be applied to all types of edible food wastes. The option of prevention also includes alternative uses of products for human consumption (e.g. a misshapen vegetable that can be used in convenience foods). In these cases the products must be reprocessed and they would not be considered food waste according to the definition provided in the previous section, and therefore they are out of the scope of this work. If instead they are directly consumed without further processing the alternative to follow will be redistribution, although this will normally give a smaller economic benefit to the food company than selling them at their normal price. In this paper it is assumed that all prevention steps have been taken to minimize food waste generation, but nevertheless food waste is created and requires waste management optimisation.

Landspreading can be used with the majority of food waste types, but according to the food waste hierarchy (Fig.  3 ) this alternative is less beneficial than composting. As both alternatives can be used to treat the same types of food wastes, landspreading has not been further considered in this work and only composting has been examined.

Additionally, the last two waste management practices, namely landfilling and thermal treatment without energy recovery, are not considered in the analysis. Landfilling has a high environmental impact, and its economic and social outcomes are also negative. Treatment without energy recovery damages the environment likewise, but its economic and social ramifications are generally less adverse. In both cases there are always more sustainable management practices that can be used to manage food waste, even if these two alternatives could be potentially used with all types of food waste, regardless of their nature.

The FWMDT was designed as far as possible to embody the categories and indicators described in the previous section, but this was not always achievable. For instance, the category animal-product presence includes additional indicators for inedible, animal-based products, as can be seen in Fig.  7 , to comply with European regulations [ 36 ].

A description of each management alternative evaluated and the associated types of waste can be found below.

Redistribution for Human Consumption

Redistribution for human consumption is the optimal alternative, as food is used to feed people. Agreements with charities and food banks help to distribute surplus food to those in need. Products must be edible, eatable and processed, as defined in the previous section. It must be noted that processed does not necessarily mean that the final product was fully processed as initially planned by the food business, e.g. surplus potatoes for the preparation of chips for ready meals can be redistributed if they are fit for human consumption and distribution (for example, they have not been peeled yet) and comply with regulations. In this case the potatoes are defined as processed because they are as sold to final consumers. The European legislation redistribution for human consumption must meet is the General Food Law [ 40 ], the Food Hygiene Package [ 41 – 44 ], the Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 [ 45 ], and the Tax legislation [ 46 ], as explained by O’Connor et al. [ 47 ]. An extensive study of the situation of food banks and food donation in the UK was carried out by Downing et al. [ 48 ].

Animal Feeding

This is the best alternative for foods which are not fit for human consumption but are suitable for animal feeding. In this category only farmed animals are considered (e.g. cattle, swine, sheep, poultry and fish). Pets, non-ruminant zoo animals, etc. are excluded, following guidelines explained in [ 49 ]. In order to be used for animal feeding, products must either be eatable or uneatable for humans but eatable for animals, unpackaged or separable from packaging, and non-catering waste. Inedible, plant based, single product, non-catering waste can be used for animal feeding depending on the type of waste. This particular case must be assessed for each type of waste independently. When the product is mixed, it must be either not in contact with or containing meat, by-products from animal bodies or raw eggs if it is eatable, or not in contact with or containing animal-based products if it is inedible or uneatable for humans but eatable for animals. Mixed waste containing animal products from manufacturers is suitable for animal feeding when the animal product is not the main ingredient. Meat (or plant-based products containing meat) cannot be sent for animal feeding. Eggs and egg products (or plant-based products containing them) must come from the agricultural or manufacturing stage when used for animal feeding and must follow specific treatments. Milk and dairy products can be used for animal feeding if they are processed (the processing needed is similar to that for human consumption), or unprocessed under UK rules if the farm is a registered milk processing establishment. Inedible, animal based, category 3 waste can also be used for animal feeding only under the conditions listed in the FWMDT (Fig.  7 ). According to European regulations, all types of category 3 animal by-products can be used in animal feed except hides, skins, hooves, feathers, wool, horns, hair, fur, adipose tissue and catering waste. Nevertheless the UK regulation is stricter than European regulations and this has been incorporated into the FWMDT. It must be noted that technically some category 3 animal by-products are edible, but they are not intended for human consumption. In any case, they must be not spoiled in order to be usable for animal feeding, and in most cases they must be processed following specific requirements before being used. If a waste contains different categories of animal by-products, it must be treated following the requirements of the material with the highest risk (category 1: highest risk, category 3: lowest risk). The following sources have been used to develop the FWMDT and must be consulted when using animal by-products in animal feeds: European regulations [ 36 , 50 , 51 ] and UK legislation [ 52 ]. Useful guidance information on this matter in the UK can be found at [ 49 , 53 ]. Further information on additional legislation that applies to work with animal by-products can be found at [ 54 ] and [ 55 ] for milk products. Eggs must be treated in a processing facility under national rules [ 56 ]. The following additional legislation for animal feeding has also been consulted: European regulations [ 57 – 59 ] and regulations in England [ 60 ]. General guidance on animal feeding was collected by Food Standards Agency [ 61 ].

Anaerobic Digestion

Anaerobic digestion can be used with all types of food waste except animal by-products category 1 and packaged waste (i.e. non-separable from packaging) in a non-biodegradable packaging. The animal by-products category 3 must be pasteurised; the particle size of animal by-products category 2 must be 50 mm or smaller, and its core must have reached a temperature of 133 °C for at least 20 min without interruption at an absolute pressure of at least 3 bar [ 36 , 52 , 62 ]. Anaerobic digestion plants in the UK must comply with regulations with regard to environmental protection, animal by-products, duty of care, health and safety and waste handling (more information about the different legal requirements can be found in [ 63 ]).

The types of material suitable for composting are the same as for anaerobic digestion: all food waste except animal by-products category 1 and packaged waste (i.e. non-separable from packaging) in non-biodegradable packaging. Animal by-products category 2 can be composted if processed according to regulations [ 36 , 52 ]. Composting must be carried out in closed vessels (in-vessel composting) if the waste contains or has been in contact with any animal-based material [ 15 , 62 ], as it can attract vermin. Further guidance for the composting of waste can be found in [ 64 ].

Thermal Treatment with Energy Recovery

This alternative can be applied to every type of food waste; nevertheless its use must be minimized as it provides small benefit compared to the impacts generated. Additionally, a great quantity of energy is needed to treat food waste due to its mainly high water content, and therefore this alternative may be useful and give an energy return on investment when treating dry food wastes (e.g. bread and pastries) or food waste mixed with other materials, such as in municipal solid waste. Thermal treatments with energy recovery, which includes incineration, pyrolysis and gasification, is the only alternative available to treat packaged food (non-separable from packaging) in non-biodegradable packaging, except the cases when the product is also edible, eatable and processed, and therefore can be redistributed for human consumption. As this type of waste is the final packaged product it will usually be generated in the last stages of the supply chain, particularly at retailing and consumer level (municipal solid waste). Thermal treatments with energy recovery are also the most appropriate alternative to treat animal by-products category 1, and in some cases, it is also necessary to process by pressure sterilisation [ 36 , 52 ]. Useful information on incineration of municipal solid waste can be found in [ 65 ] and on technologies and emissions from waste incineration in the Best Available Techniques for Waste Incineration [ 66 ].

Final Results and Discussion: Case Studies

Introduction to case studies.

The food waste categorization process presented in this paper has been applied to two case studies to demonstrate its applicability: a brewery (Molson Coors) and a manufacturer of meat-alternative products (Quorn Foods). These food companies were selected because previous contact between the researchers and the industries existed, and also due to their leading position in their product market, large size and therefore a predictable number of different types of food waste produced. A visit to their headquarters took place in June 2015, in which interviews were held with company employees. A questionnaire was used to systematically identify food waste streams and collect relevant data.

The categorization of these wastes according to the categorization scheme and the most favourable waste treatment alternatives identified using the FWMDT (Figs.  4 – 7 ) are explained in the following sections. The rest of the alternatives from the food waste hierarchy were also assessed for each type of food waste.

Brewery: Molson Coors

This section categorizes the different types of food waste generated at one of Molson Coors’ manufacturing sites, a brewery situated in central England. The different types of food waste generated, in order of decreasing quantity, are: spent grain, waste beer, conditioning bottom, filter waste and trub. The quantity of waste generated during a year is only dependent on the level of production, since a relatively constant percentage of waste is generated per amount of final product manufactured. The different types of food waste identified are categorized in Table  1 and explained below.

Spent Grain

Spent grain accounts for around 85 % of the total food waste in the manufacturing plant. It is an unavoidable by-product of the mashing process and is formed of barley and small amounts of wheat.

According to the FWMDT (Fig.  7 ), the best option is to send the waste for animal feeding. Currently spent grain is mixed with trub (in an approximate proportion of 99 % spent grain, 1 % trub) and used for animal feeding. However, the possibility of reprocessing the waste to adapt it for human consumption was also assessed, as suggested in the previous subsection. Spent grains contain high proportions of dietary fibres and proteins which may provide a number of health benefits [ 67 ]. Spent grain should not be mixed with trub if it is intended to use it to produce food products. Flour can be produced from spent grain following a process that includes drying and grinding [ 67 ]. This can be mixed afterwards with wheat flour and used in a wide range of food products such as bread, muffins, biscuits, etc., increasing their health benefits [ 68 ]. It must be noted that production of new food products was not selected by using the FWMDT because spent grain was considered inedible, as there is no current consumer demand for the products described above. If technology existed to produce new food products from spent grain, such as those described above, and these products could be sold because there was a consumer demand for it, spent grain would not be considered food waste providing it was used for this purpose.

Other uses for spent grain, apart from food uses and for animal fodder, include pet food, use in construction bricks, removal of pollutants in wastewater, production of paper, growing medium for mushrooms or microorganisms, extraction and synthesis of compounds (e.g. bioethanol, lactic acid, polymers and resins, hydroxycinnamic acids, arabinooligoxylosides, xylitol, pullulan), anaerobic digestion, composting, thermal treatment with energy recovery and landspreading [ 68 – 70 ].

This waste corresponds to the final product which is not ultimately consumed. There are three reasons as to why this waste is generated:

Beer left in casks brought back from the food service sector, which accounts for most of the waste in this category. It means an economic loss to the food service sector, not to the brewing company; therefore, it has not been given a high importance by the beer producer.

Beer rejected because of mislabelling.

Spilled beer in the filling process, which accounts for a negligible amount.

Currently, 95 % of the waste is sent to farms and mixed with other waste to feed animals (pigs). The remaining 5 % is sent to sewage.

Ideally, and according to the FWMDT (Fig.  5 ), beer left in casks could be reused for human consumption; however, as this comes from outside of the factory, it is difficult to prove that it has not been altered and is safe for consumption. If the option of redistribution for human consumption is discarded, the next recommended alternative is animal feeding, which is the current final use.

Beer rejected because of mislabelling is perfectly potable, so it is potentially reusable; however, there is difficulty of extracting the product from its packaging (i.e. emptying bottles and dispensing the product into new bottles). This would require significant employee time or new technologies for automation of the process, but would prevent beer from being wasted. Alternatively, in England the mislabelled beer can be sold at a lower price to a redistributor of surplus products such as Company Shop, where the label is corrected to meet Food Information Regulations 2014 [ 71 ], and providing the beer is compliant with food safety legislation it can be sold at a lower price to the final consumer. Similarly, European legislation that regulates the food information that must be provided to consumers in product labelling is the Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 [ 45 ]. Food banks generally do not serve beer and therefore in these cases it cannot be redistributed to charities for people in need.

Alternatively, extraction of alcohol from waste beer by distillation could also give an economic benefit.

Conditioning Bottom

This waste is an unavoidable by-product which settles to the bottom of the conditioner tanks during the maturation process. It is composed principally of yeast, thus it is edible. However, it is not suitable for redistribution for human consumption, as the waste is not processed. Currently it is sent for animal feeding (pigs), which is the optimal alternative according to the FWMDT (Fig.  5 ).

Alternatively, some substances from the conditioning bottom can be used to produce new food products. Yeast can be separated and used to produce foodstuff. In order to recover yeast, the sediment should be filtered and squeezed, and this gives the opportunity to recover cloudy-type beer. As well as with spent grain, discussed previously, production of new food products was not selected by using the FWMDT because conditioning bottom is unprocessed, as there is either no current consumer demand for it or no technology available to undertake the processes required.

Filter Waste

Filter waste is formed of diatomaceous earth, yeasts and proteins. Yeast and proteins are edible; typically diatomaceous earth (i.e. fossilized remains of diatoms) is considered inedible; however there are two types: food grade diatomaceous earth and inedible diatomaceous earth. In order to choose the best waste management alternative the type of diatomaceous earth must first be identified. As the current use for beer production is as a filter medium, it will be assumed to be inedible diatomaceous earth.

Following the FWMDT (Fig.  7 ), the waste should be used in animal feeds. However, the type of diatomaceous earth used is not suitable for animal feeding and therefore the next alternative from the food waste hierarchy was suggested: anaerobic digestion to obtain energy. Currently, filter waste is sent to composting (when it is dry) and sewage (when it is wet). As composting is an alternative under anaerobic digestion in the waste hierarchy and sewage is at the bottom of the hierarchy, there is an important opportunity for improvement. Potential additional uses of diatomaceous earth include industrial (filter medium, stabiliser of nitroglycerin, abrasive in metal polishes and toothpaste, thermal insulator, reinforcing filler in plastics and rubber, anti-block in plastic films, support for catalysts, activation in blood coagulating studies, cat litter, etc.), additive in ceramic mass for the production of red bricks, insecticide and anticaking agent for grain storage (when it is food grade), growing medium in hydroponic gardens and plotted plants and landspreading [ 72 , 73 ].

This is an unavoidable by-product obtained principally in the separator after the brewing process. It is formed of hops, inactive yeast, heavy fats and proteins. Currently this waste is mixed with spent grain and sent to animal feeding, which is the best alternative according to the FWMDT (Fig.  7 ).

On the other hand, while hops are typically considered inedible, some parts are actually edible. For example, hop shoots can be consumed by humans [ 74 ]. Ideally edible parts of the hops would be separated and used in food products and the remaining hops be sent to animal feeding. Yeast, fats and proteins could potentially be used in food products. As well as with spent grain, discussed previously, production of new food products was not selected by using the FWMDT because trub was considered inedible, as there is either no current consumer demand for the products described above or no technology available to undertake the processes required.

Applicability of the Categorization Process and the FWMDT

The FWMDT was proved to be useful to classify food waste generated at Molson Coors, as two types of waste were identified to be upgradeable: waste beer and filter waste could be managed in an alternative way in which more value would be obtained.

The assessment of some categories was complex for some food wastes, e.g. edibility for spent grain and waste beer. Spent grain was demonstrated to be edible, but as there is no market for this product for human consumption spent grain waste was consequently further classified as inedible. Research and investment to produce new food products from spent grain is encouraged, and when that takes place the categorization of spent grain will have to be amended. Waste beer was classified as eatable, however safety concerns regarding beer left in casks brought back from the food service sector must be overcome before the beer is reused. Should waste beer be considered safe for consumption but of low quality, ethical issues may arise regarding the benefits of using it for human consumption. Following the FWMDT, redistributing safe food for human consumption is always better from a sustainable point of view than any other alternative from the food waste hierarchy.

The feasibility to send food waste to animal feeding was also difficult to assess. It was found that when considering animal feeding for inedible, plant-based, single or mixed product not in contact with or containing animal-based products, non-catering waste (Fig.  7 ) each type of food waste should be analysed independently. For instance, trub can be sent for animal feeding but filter waste not because it contains diatomaceous earth which cannot be digested by animals.

Additionally, waste formed principally of yeast could not be strictly classified as plant-based or animal-based. The ‘microorganisms’ indicator was introduced for this reason, but in practice this was considered as plant-based material, since it is not under animal by-product regulations.

Molson Coors also generates a by-product from the mashing process, spent yeast, which is currently sold to a food company nearby to produce Marmite ® , a food spread. Since this by-product is sold as planned by Molson Coors to produce a food product, it is not considered food waste according to the definition provided previously, and therefore is out of the scope of this work. If spent yeast were sent for any other use, it would be considered food waste and would have to be analysed using the FWMDT.

Manufacturer of Meat Alternatives: Quorn Foods

This section categorizes the different types of food waste generated at Quorn Foods, a manufacturer of meat alternatives situated in Northern England. Two types of food waste were identified: food solid/slurry mix and food product returns, which account for 63 and 21 % of the total waste in the factory respectively. The rest of the waste is non-food materials such as cardboard, plastic, etc. The quantity of waste generated during a year is only conditional on the level of production: a relatively constant percentage of waste is generated per amount of final product manufactured. The different food waste types are listed and categorized in Table  2 and explained below.

Food Solid/Slurry Mix

This category of waste includes products being lost through the production line: product falling from conveyor belts, trimmings, product stuck onto inner walls of the industrial equipment, etc. It has the same ingredients as the final product: fungus (mycoprotein), plant-based material, and animal-based products (egg albumen) in low proportions: 2–3 % by mass of the final product. It is an avoidable waste as it could be reduced or eliminated with more appropriate industrial equipment.

This waste was considered eatable, as it is generated only because of the inefficiency of the systems rather than to due to problems with the product. However, a more detailed analysis should be carried out to identify all different cases where this waste is generated and assess their state. If uneatable waste (e.g. spilled food onto the floor) is found, this should be classified as a different category of waste [ 75 ], although the new food waste management alternative for this waste according to the FWMDT would remain unchanged in this particular case: animal feeding.

Considering the previous comments, the most beneficial alternative according to the FWMDT (Fig.  5 ) is animal feeding, which is the option currently followed by the company. Unfortunately, this does not provide any economic income at present.

An investment in improvements in the industrial equipment would reduce the amount of food wasted in this category. Alternatively, the waste generated could be recovered and used to produce more final product.

Food Product Returns

Food product returns is the final product which cannot be sold to the final consumer for a number of reasons, including incorrect formulation, no traceability, packaging errors, etc. It has the same ingredients as the final product: fungus (mycoprotein), plant-based material, and animal-based products (egg albumen) in low proportions: 2–3 % by mass of the final product. It is an avoidable waste as it could be reduced or eliminated with more appropriate manufacturing practices.

This waste was considered eatable, as it corresponds to the final product. However, a more detailed analysis must be carried out before redistributing the food for human consumption in order to identify all different cases where this waste is generated and assess their state. If uneatable waste is found (e.g. its use-by date has passed), it must be classified as a different category of waste and this will allow a bespoke solution for this type of food waste. In this case, since the product is packaged, there is no risk of uneatable waste contaminating eatable waste.

Considering the previous comments, the most beneficial alternative is redistribution for human consumption, according to the FWMDT (Fig.  5 ). Currently the waste is separated from its packaging and sent to anaerobic digestion. The remaining packaging is used to produce refuse-derived fuel.

The FWMDT was proved to be useful to classify food waste generated at Quorn Foods, as one type of waste was identified to be upgradeable: food product returns could be managed in an alternative way in which more value would be obtained.

A more detailed analysis would be useful to identify sub-types of food waste and consequently the categorization process should be completed for all new food wastes found. This would provide a tailored waste management alternative for each type of food waste. For instance, if a final product for which the use-by date has passed is found, this could be named as ‘expired food product returns’ and its most appropriate waste management alternative would be anaerobic digestion, unlike the current generic ‘food product returns’ which should be redistributed.

Additionally, waste formed principally of fungus could not be strictly classified as plant-based or animal-based. The ‘fungus’ indicator was introduced for this reason, but in practice this was considered as plant-based material, since it is not covered by animal by-product regulations.

Conclusions

The food waste categorization and management selection flowchart (i.e. the Food Waste Management Decision Tree) discussed in this paper facilitates the selection of the most sustainable food waste management alternative, with the objective of minimizing environmental impacts and maximising economic and social benefits. The categorization is intended to be easy to apply, facilitating identification of the type of food waste generated, and its link with the most appropriate food waste management alternative. This methodology has been illustrated with case studies from two large UK food and drink manufacturers. Their food waste types have been identified and their existing waste management practices compared to the proposed alternatives. It was found that a detailed breakdown of the types of food waste provides significantly better results than general itemisation, since bespoke solutions can be used for each food waste.

The analysis described can be applied to every type of food waste from every stage of the food supply chain. However, this methodology is expected to be more useful in the early stages (agricultural and manufacturing) of the food supply chain, where separate collection is generally carried out more effectively, than in the retailing and consumer stages where waste is often sent to municipal solid waste. Additionally, it is recommended to adapt the categorization to each food sector or business and include more waste management alternatives in the analysis (e.g. extraction of compounds of interest from food waste).

Unfortunately, the alternatives at the top of the food waste hierarchy are applicable to fewer food waste types than those at the bottom. Consequently, a range of solutions is required for a tailored treatment of each food waste type. A clear example of this is the reduction in the previously widespread use of food waste for animal feeding. This is due to stricter regulation that has resulted in fewer types of food waste that can be used to feed animals [ 76 ]. Health and safety concerns influence legislation on food waste management, but excessively zealous bans of food waste management options results in the unintended consequence that less advantageous alternatives are more commonly used. Regarding the animal feeding example, there are initiatives to change legislation and allow more types of food waste to be fed to animals [ 77 ].

The food waste categorization scheme is also useful for monitoring purposes. It provides an easy way to classify food waste in a business or a region to assess progress in management and sustainability and measure against other companies or areas. In order to do that, firstly a clear definition of food waste must be agreed, the boundaries of the system to analyse must be delimited, and afterwards the food waste types can be identified and quantified.

Evaluating the relative merits of waste management alternatives is a complex task. The factors determining which solution is more convenient are difficult to assess and sometimes even difficult to identify, including yields of the processes, proximity of waste management facilities, tax regulations, and demand for by-products, amongst many others. As a consequence, the waste hierarchy should be applied to every type of food waste identified independently, rather than to food waste as a whole, and undertake an exhaustive analysis for each food waste. To meet this challenge the authors are developing an analysis method and associated figures of merit to allow quantitative comparison of waste management alternatives, with a focus on environmental impacts, as an improvement over the current, qualitative approach.

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Acknowledgments

This research is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) UK through the Grant EP/K030957/1.

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Garcia-Garcia, G., Woolley, E., Rahimifard, S. et al. A Methodology for Sustainable Management of Food Waste. Waste Biomass Valor 8 , 2209–2227 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-016-9720-0

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Introduction, section snippets, references (97), cited by (64).

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Review a systematic literature review on food waste/loss prevention and minimization methods.

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Methodology, results and discussion, conclusions, declaration of competing interest, acknowledgments, variability in commercial and institutional food waste generation and implications for sustainable management systems, resour. conserv. recycl., understanding and addressing waste of food in the kingdom of saudi arabia, saudi j. biol. sci., food waste and losses in primary production: qualitative insights from horticulture, integrating community perspectives into domestic food waste prevention and diversion policies, quantifying food losses and the potential for reduction in switzerland, waste manag., economic impact assessment of food waste reduction on european countries through social accounting matrices, implementing the circular economy paradigm in the agri-food supply chain: the role of food waste prevention technologies, food waste accounting along global and european food supply chains: state of the art and outlook, prioritizing and optimizing sustainable measures for food waste prevention and management, the opportunity of tracking food waste in school canteens: guidelines for self-assessment, community participation in household solid waste reduction in surabaya, indonesia, food waste prevention along the food supply chain: a multi-actor approach to identify effective solutions, every plate counts: evaluation of a food waste reduction campaign in a university dining hall, environmental evaluation of municipal waste prevention, food waste generation and industrial uses: a review, addressing food waste reduction in denmark, elements affecting food waste in the food service sector, waste policies gone soft: an analysis of european and swedish waste prevention plans, sustainable management practices of food waste in asia: technological and policy drivers, j. environ. manag., drivers of food waste generation: case study of island-based hotels in langkawi, malaysia, food waste and the food-energy-water nexus: a review of food waste management alternatives, food loss rates at the food retail, influencing factors and reasons as a basis for waste prevention measures, food waste management innovations in the foodservice industry, from surplus-to-waste: a study of systemic overproduction, surplus and food waste in horticultural supply chains, j. clean. prod., a focus on the state of the art of food waste/losses issue and suggestions for future researches, a systems approach to assessing environmental and economic effects of food loss and waste interventions in the united states, sci. total environ., an overview of the recent trends on the waste valorization techniques for food wastes, food waste generation and potential interventions at rhodes university, south africa, the food waste hierarchy as a framework for the management of surplus and food waste, conceptual framework for the study of food waste generation and prevention in the hospitality sector, a simple awareness campaign to promote food waste reduction in a university canteen, adopting the circular economy approach on food loss and waste: the case of italian pasta production, a holistic approach to the environmental evaluation of food waste prevention, potentials for the prevention of municipal solid waste, explaining and promoting household food waste-prevention by an environmental psychological based intervention study, where to start fighting the food waste problem identifying most promising entry points for intervention programs to reduce household food waste and overconsumption of food, identification and modelling of risk factors for food waste generation in school and pre-school catering units, generation and collection of restaurant waste: characterization and evaluation at a case study in italy, drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development, the devolution of urban food waste governance: case study of food rescue in los angeles, municipal waste reduction potential and related strategies in tehran, int. j. environ. res., food waste prevention in athens, greece: the effect of family characteristics, waste manag. res., assessing alternative production options for eco-efficient food supply chains using multi-objective optimization, sustainable supply chain design and management, tackling the challenges of reducing and managing food waste in mumbai restaurants, br. food j., discounting and dynamic shelf life to reduce fresh food waste at retailers, int. j. prod. econ., digital platforms: mapping the territory of new technologies to fight food waste, using two government food waste recognition programs to understand current reducing food loss and waste activities in the u.s, sustainability, measuring the sustainable development goals (sdgs) in mining host communities: a south african case study, extrac. ind.soc., food-leftover sharing intentions of consumers: an extension of the theory of planned behavior, material flow cost accounting (mfca) to enhance environmental entrepreneurship in the meat sector: challenges and opportunities, a systematic review of food loss and waste in china: quantity, impacts and mediators, food waste and its management in restaurants of a transition economy: an exploratory study of uzbekistan.

Dedicated research is required to quantify and characterise FW as it occurs in different nations, but also different sectors of the global food supply chain (Chen et al., 2017). Scholarly interest in FW is growing as demonstrated by the increasing number of scientific publications (for detailed bibliometric reviews on FW refer to Amicarelli and Bux, 2020; Chauhan et al., 2021; Moraes et al., 2021). There remain, however, critical research gaps that need addressing.

Omics Technologies to Enhance Plant Based Functional Foods: An Overview

Digitalization and future agro-food supply chain management: a literature-based implications.

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Exploration of Food Security Challenges towards More Sustainable Food Production: A Systematic Literature Review of the Major Drivers and Policies

Sabreen wahbeh.

1 Faculty of Business, University of Wollongong in Dubai, Dubai 20183, United Arab Emirates

Foivos Anastasiadis

2 Department of Agribusiness and Supply Chain Management, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece

Balan Sundarakani

Ioannis manikas, associated data.

Not applicable.

Food security is a central priority for international policy as one of the world’s most significantly urgent targets to achieve. It is considered one of the most pressing issues in many countries, the degree of food security representing the level of self-sufficiency and well-being of citizens. In particular, in the current COVID-19 pandemic era, it has more than ever become a mission-critical goal. In this research, we report on the food security drivers and the current state of recommended policies addressing chronic food insecurity aimed at ensuring the sustainability of future food production. Mapping the determinants of food security contributes to a better understanding of the issue and aids in the development of appropriate food security policies and strategies to enhance the sustainability of food production in all facets; namely environmental, social, and economic. Adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) data screening and selection guidelines and standards, we carried out a comprehensive, reliable, systematic, and rigorous review of research from the last ten years in order to identify the most frequently mentioned drivers and policies of food security in the literature available in two databases: Scopus and Web of Science (WOS). The number of extracted articles was 141 papers in total. An analysis revealed 34 drivers of food security and 17 most recommended policies for the mitigation of food insecurity. The existence of food loss and waste (FLW) policies was the primary driver of food security, followed by food security policies (FSP) in their different forms. However, FSP were the most recommended policies, followed by FLW policies. The identified food security drivers and recommended policies should be used by policy-makers to improve food security, thus contributing to sustainable food production. Our research findings, reflected in the latest version of the Global Food Security Index (GFSI), resulted in more tangible policy implications, suggesting the addition of two dimensions regarding food security. We also identified elements not listed under the GFSI that could be considered in its future revision, including environmental policies/indicators, consumer representation, and traceability throughout the entire supply chain. Overall, it can be concluded that food security is a complicated and multi-faceted issue that cannot be restricted to a single variable, necessitating the deeper integration of various multi-disciplinary interventions.

1. Introduction

Food security (FS) is “a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” [ 1 ] p.3. It is a significant priority for international policy [ 2 ], and has been perceived as being among the key challenges worldwide [ 3 ] as it represents a country’s degree of self-sufficiency and the well-being of its citizens [ 4 ]. Securing a nation’s self-sufficiency has become a top priority in the context of the current COVID-19 global epidemic era, even more so than earlier [ 5 ]. Economic expansion, rising incomes, urbanization, and growing population are driving up the demand for food, as people adopt more diverse and resource-intensive dietary habits [ 2 , 6 ]. The world’s current population is steadily increasing, placing significant pressure on the available natural resources to feed the growing population [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]; however, this dramatic growth in the global population is anticipated mainly in developing countries, which already suffer from devastating hunger and food insecurity [ 7 ]. One of the biggest obstacles to ensuring global food security is the need to roughly double food production within the coming few decades, particularly in the context of the developing world’s rapidly increasing demand [ 10 , 11 ]. The natural resources such as land, water, energy, and other resources used in food production are all subject to increasing competition [ 12 , 13 ]. Climate change poses difficulties for agricultural production [ 14 ], mainly in developing nations, while some existing farming practices harm the environment and contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) [ 15 , 16 ]. There is a real danger that less developed countries may be forced to reverse direction. The FAO’s statistics on world hunger in 2009 showed a dramatic rise to 1.023 billion people, demonstrating precisely such a situation. When commodity prices fell the following year, this number dropped to 925 million, which was still more prominent than in 2007 (i.e., before the price spike) [ 17 ]. According to recent data published by the Global Hunger Index, the number of malnourished people grew from 785 million in 2015 to 822 million in 2018. Moreover, 43 out of 117 countries reported extreme hunger [ 18 ]. Approximately 20% of developing countries lack the resources and physical access necessary to provide their citizens with the most basic food. Children in developing countries face vitamin and nutritional deficiencies and being underweight, which puts them at risk for various sicknesses due to food insecurity [ 12 ]. National and global imbalances brought on by food insecurity are expected to worsen human suffering and make it harder for people to survive [ 12 ]. Despite the efforts of multiple global organizations such as the FAO and the UN, the problem of food insecurity is worsening [ 19 ], which means that more effective and sustainable solutions must be provided to ensure the alleviation of food insecurity and the sustainability of food production. Hence, policy-makers must understand that in a world that is becoming more globalized, food insecurity in one region could have significant political, economic, and environmental impacts elsewhere [ 2 ].

Throughout the twentieth century, policy-makers used the concept of food security as a key notion in formulating food-related policies [ 17 ]. Lang and Barling [ 17 ] have proposed two main schools of thought on food security: the first focused on increased production as the primary solution to under-consumption and hunger, while the second is a newer one that is more socially and environmentally conscious and accepts the need to address a wide range of issues, not just production. The former is primarily concerned with agriculture, while the latter is concerned with food systems. One approach to solve the food security challenge is to intensify agricultural production in ways that impose much less environmental stress and do not jeopardize our long-term ability to continue producing food [ 2 ]. The above sustainable intensification strategy comprises a policy agenda for several governments worldwide, but has also drawn criticism for being overly production-focused or incoherent [ 2 ]. The central mission of the twenty-first century is to establish a sustainable food system, which calls for a more concrete policy framework than that which is currently in place [ 17 ]. This mission has been disrupted by competing solutions for policy focus and policies that have, so far, failed to incorporate the complex array of evidence from social, environmental, and economic components into such an integrated and comprehensive policy response [ 17 ]. Millions of people are being pushed into a cycle of food insecurity and poverty due to climate change; however, we can combat both food insecurity and climate change by implementing climate-friendly agricultural production methods [ 12 ]. Tsolakis and Srai [ 20 ] have stated that any comprehensive food security policy should entail multi-dimensional policies considering aspects such as resilience, trade, self-sufficiency, food waste, and sustainability. As it is traditionally understood, food security concerns individuals, while ecological and environmental concepts operate locally and at supra-national, regional, and international levels [ 1 ]. According to Guiné, Pato [ 21 ], the four pillars of food security—availability, access, utilization, and stability—should be reconsidered to include additional factors such as climate change. Clapp, Moseley [ 22 ] has also stressed that it is time to officially update the existing food security definition to involve two further dimensions—sustainability and agency—containing broader dynamics that have an impact on hunger and malnutrition [ 23 ]. Sustainability relates to the long-term ability of food systems to ensure food and nutrition security in a way that does not jeopardize the economic, social, and environmental foundations that generate food and nutrition security for upcoming generations [ 22 , 23 ]. Agency represents the ability of people or groups to decide what they consume, what they produce, and how they produce, process, and distribute their food within food systems, as well as their capacity to participate in processes that shape the food system’s policies and governance [ 22 , 23 ]. Instead of dismissing food security as being insufficient, Clapp, Moseley [ 22 ] has contended that the inclusion of two extra dimensions—agency and sustainability—into food security policy and assessment frameworks will help to guarantee that every human has access to food, not just now but also in the future. Sustainability can be viewed as a pre-requisite for long-term food security [ 1 ]. Environmental aspects—particularly climate and the availability of natural resources—are pre-requisite for food availability and biodiversity protection [ 24 ]. The availability of food for everybody depends on economic and social sustainability. Food utilization, too, is influenced by social sustainability. The three components of sustainability—social, economic, and environmental—ensure the continuity of the three food security dimensions and the food system stability on which they rely. As confirmation of the vital relationship between food security and sustainability, “The International Food Policy Research Institute” has launched a 2020 Vision of Food Security to achieve food security, stating that “a world where every person has economic and physical access to sufficient food to sustain a healthy and productive life, where malnutrition is absent, and where food originates from efficient, effective, and low-cost food and agricultural systems that are compatible with sustainable use and management of natural resources” [ 12 ] (p357). Many policies, priorities, technologies, and long-term solutions must be developed and implemented worldwide to achieve the 2020 food security vision [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. However, there is a scarcity of systematic studies analyzing the food security drivers and the recommended policies to improve food security.

Following a review of the academic literature, we discovered a scarcity of research that systemically summarizes the major drivers of food security, outlines the recommended policies to improve food security, ensures the sustainability of future food production, and provides policy recommendations to enhance food security based on a country’s context. In response to this gap in the literature, we carried out a comprehensive, reliable, systematic, and rigorous review of previous research from the last ten years in order to identify the most frequently mentioned drivers/policies in the scanned literature. The rationale behind this study is to identify and list food security drivers and the current state of recommended policies that address chronic food insecurity to ensure the sustainability of future food production, utilizing a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology. Moreover, we hope to identify drivers/policies in order to aid policy-makers in selecting the most appropriate policies based on each nation’s context (e.g., agricultural production, natural resource availability, climate, political stability, and so on). Most importantly, policy-makers can use the identified drivers of food security and the recommended policies in the literature to customize appropriate policies that ensure the sustainability of future food production and, hence, ensure food sustainability for future generations. Based on the evidence reported in the literature, the identified food security drivers and recommended policies will aid the policy- and decision-makers of various countries in sustainably improving the food security situation. The need to identify the main drivers of food security arises from the notable increase in households and individuals suffering from food shortages and insecurity globally [ 25 ]. Finally, the findings of this research will be used to inform the GFSI developers in order to include more comprehensive indicators expected to contribute to the sustainability of future food production.

2. Materials and Methods

This research aims to report on food security drivers and the current state of recommended policies that address chronic food insecurity in order to ensure the sustainability of future food production through the use of a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology. We highlight existing food security drivers and outline recommended policies to alleviate food insecurity following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) data screening and selection guidelines [ 26 ]. The extraction process was meticulously documented in order to ensure the transparency and replicability of this systematic literature review [ 27 ]. A panel of researchers was formed, following the systematic review guidelines [ 26 ], to define the research field and questions, select keywords and the intended databases, and develop the sets of inclusion and exclusion criteria.

The research began by formulating the research questions to guide this systematic review based on identified gaps in the literature, guiding us in an attempt to answer the following research questions:

• Q1. What are the main drivers of food security?
• Q2. What are the main recommended policies to alleviate food insecurity?

By answering these questions, this paper provides a reference that policy-makers and practitioners can use to identify the main drivers of food security and the recommended policies in the literature in order to customize and choose appropriate policies that ensure the sustainability of future food production. The identified food security drivers and recommended policies are expected to aid policy- and decision-makers in improving the state of FS. This study also provides a roadmap for future research based on the evidence reported in the literature.

A specific research criterion was used to ensure that the research sources selected were sufficient and comprehensive enough to capture all of the significant and salient points to adequately answer the research questions [ 26 ]. To this end, we provide a critical review of the existing literature that has been published in two databases—Scopus and Web of Science (WOS)—between 2010 and 15 March 2021, to answer the abovementioned research questions. The time limit was set to cover the period following the global financial crisis of 2008/2009 and its effect on rising food prices, increased unemployment rates, and increasing food insecurity worldwide [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. This period allows for consideration of policies designed to ensure global food security following the food shortage crisis. The use of Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) databases helped us to include most potential published works in a broad scope of journals, thereby limiting the risks of bias and possible exclusions associated with the use of fewer journals.

We employed a set of identified keywords, which are summarized in detail in Table 1 . A critical analysis was conducted regarding the most relevant concepts that are available in the literature and which affect each of the four dimensions of FS: Food availability, food access, food utilization, and food stability. For instance, the research string “Agrifood supply chain” OR “Agri food supply chain” OR “Agri-food supply chain” was added as a secondary search string, because food availability is highly dependent on the food supply chain and how well its activities are managed. The food supply chain is exposed to many factors that can negatively impact the country’s food security level, such as severe weather conditions [ 31 , 32 ]. Therefore, it is critical to consider some characteristics of the food supply chain, such as biophysical and organoleptic features, shelf life, transport conditions, production time, and storage, to efficiently and effectively manage it [ 33 ]. Effective supply chain management is seen as a significant contributor to gaining and enhancing industrial competitive advantage and efficiency at the company level, possibly impacting food security positively [ 34 ]. “MENA Region” OR “Middle East and North Africa” OR “Middle East” OR “North Africa” research string was added due to the severity of food insecurity there and to ensure the inclusion of papers that address the problem in these countries and propose strategies to overcome food insecurity. According to the GFSI data [ 25 ], MENA region countries are experiencing a decline in food security; moreover, the number of households and individuals suffering from food shortages and insecurity is dramatically increasing.

Primary and secondary search strings used in this research.

The research string “Sustainable supply chain” OR “Resilient supply chain” was added due to much research that stressed the impact of designing a proper supply chain structure due to its significant impact on the future improvement of its performance [ 33 ]. The central mission of the twenty-first century is to establish a sustainable food system, which calls for a more concrete policy framework than what is currently in place [ 17 ]. Sustainability can be viewed as a prerequisite for long-term food security [ 1 ]. The environment, particularly climate and the availability of natural resources, is a prerequisite for food availability and biodiversity protection [ 24 ]. The availability of food for everybody depends on economic and social sustainability. Food utilization, too, is influenced by social sustainability. The three components of sustainability—social, economic, and environmental—assure the continuity of the three food security dimensions and the food system stability on which they rely. Moreover, food security is increasingly considered a prerequisite for long-term sustainability [ 1 ]. Adopting a “sustainable production and consumption approach throughout the global food supply chain” is a solution that will help reduce the amount of food waste along the food supply chain [ 35 , 36 ]. Cooper and Ellram [ 37 ] argued that building a resilient supply chain has many advantages such as decreasing inventory time, which will lead to cost and time savings, increasing the availability of goods, reducing the order cycle time, improving customer service and satisfaction, and gaining a competitive advantage. Stone and Rahimifard [ 38 ] stressed the importance of having a resilient agricultural food supply chain to achieve food security due to the incremental increase in volatility across the supply chain.

The research string “Food Safety” OR “Food diversity” OR “Food quality” OR “Food standards” OR “Micronutrient availability” was added due to one of the food security dimensions: utilization, which is concerned with all aspects of food safety, and nutrition quality [ 39 ]. According to FAO (2019), the utilization dimension should assess food diversity, food safety, food standards, and micronutrient availability. It is inadequate to provide enough food to someone unable to benefit from it because they are constantly sick due to a lack of sanitary conditions. It indicates that in the country, individuals are taking advantage of the food they receive or have access to, with extra emphasis on the dietary quality that contains nutritious ingredients such as vitamins (vitamin-A) and minerals (Iron, Zinc, Iodine) [ 40 ]. According to the World Health Organization, people diagnosed with malnutrition usually suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, protein deficiency, obesity, or undernutrition. The lack of micro-ingredients can increase the risk of developing severe chronic and infectious diseases for people in general and children in particular (toddlers 9–24 months). These diseases have an irreversible negative impact on people’s health, which enhances the persistence of poverty and food insecurity. It is critical to invest in the health and nutrition elements on a global scale by ensuring safe drinking water, immunization, enhancing sewage discharge, improving public health services, and reducing poverty levels [ 41 ].

The research string “Agricultural infrastructure” OR “Agricultural production volatility” OR “Vulnerability assessment” was chosen because much research has emphasized the importance of investing in a strong agricultural infrastructure to improve food security levels, especially in light of current challenges such as climate change, increased urbanization, water scarcity, and the shift away from using cropland for non-agricultural activities [ 7 , 8 , 41 ]. Food security is vulnerable to severe weather conditions, whereas harsh weather conditions may adversely impact the food supply chain in weak areas [ 31 , 32 ]. Therefore, it is critical to assess the vulnerability level of each country to protect the food supply chain. The use of the “Food loss” OR “Food waste” OR “Food waste and loss” research string was due to the general agreement among researchers on the importance of reducing food waste to improve food security [ 35 , 42 , 43 ]. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (2013), around one-third of the food produced globally (1.3 billion tons) is wasted or lost. Most wasted food is either fresh and perishable or leftovers from eating and cooking [ 36 , 42 ]. Basher, Raboy [ 43 ] argued that eliminating just one-fourth of the food waste would be enough to feed all the currently undernourished people. One of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations, “SDG 12.3 Food Waste Index” stresses that decreasing the amount of food loss and waste will help reduce hunger levels, promote sustainable production and consumption, and enhance food security [ 44 ].

The use of “Policy description” OR “Policy assessment” OR “Policy recommendation” OR “Policymaking” OR “Policy-making” OR “Policy making” research string was due to the impact of adequate and proper policy formulation on food security ( Table 1 ). Establishing effective and efficient food policies that ensure that each individual has an optimal level of food security is critical in every country because it directly enhances the country’s competitive advantage and efficiency [ 34 , 45 ]. Timmer [ 46 ] emphasized that designing the proper set of policies to end hunger based on each country’s context is challenging and requires collaborative participation from multiple stakeholders. Murti Mulyo Aji [ 34 ] stressed the role of the government’s policies in developing a collaborative supply chain that creates value throughout the supply chain by improving information, logistics, and relationship management. Effective and efficient supply chain management significantly impacts managing long-term partnerships and corporations among a wide range of firms that vary in size and sectors (public or private). This collaboration will enhance prediction of changes in customer demands in domestic and international markets. If previous policies were insufficient to ensure that country’s true competitive advantage, it could cause market distortion [ 34 , 47 ]. Countries are encouraged to gradually reduce the adoption of inequitable trade policies to focus on enhancing their true competitive advantage, demonstrating fair competition, and increasing economic efficiency, particularly in the spirit of trade liberalization [ 34 ].

The selection of research sources was accomplished in March 2021, and the search for keywords was enabled for titles, abstracts, and full texts in both electronic search engines (i.e., Scopus and WOS). Several keywords were identified to retrieve the available literature, and search strings consisted of primary and secondary keywords. The primary search string used was as follows: “food security” OR “food insecurity” OR “food availability” OR “food affordability” OR “food access” OR “food utilization” OR “food stability”. The reason behind including these multiple strings was to cover the maximum number of articles that handle the topic of food security or any of its four dimensions.

Specific exclusion and inclusion criteria were applied in order to develop high-quality evidence [ 26 ]. A reasonable number of articles were limited for deep analysis by following the specific exclusion and inclusion criteria to control the quality of the review in the food security field, as detailed in Table 2 above. Only peer-reviewed journal articles were included within the time frame (2010–15 March 2021) and only those written in English. Furthermore, due to this study’s nature and to ensure consistency with the topic area, the most common and effective approach for examining drivers and recommended policies were limited to the business, management, accounting, and agricultural fields [ 48 ]. We have used the “business, management and accounting” research field in the Scopus database to ensure that all the included articles were business-related. Then, we restricted the research field to” Economics, business, and agriculture Economics” in the WoS database to ensure the inclusion of agriculture-related papers and maximize the inclusion of a diverse range of articles. Another round of retrieval was applied using a set of secondary keywords in order to narrow down the search to specific areas of food security. For this purpose, the primary keywords were escorted each time with “AND” and other secondary keywords, as listed in Table 2 .

Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

The initial search using the primary keywords (“food security” OR “food insecurity” OR “food availability” OR “food affordability” OR “food access” OR “food utilization” OR “food stability”) revealed a total of 113,709 documents (Scopus, n = 63,860; WOS, n = 49,849). Strict selection criteria were applied to the first search pool in order to maintain transparency and guarantee the selection of relevant material that answers the research questions. To ensure academic rigor, the search was restricted to including only peer-reviewed publications [ 49 ] (Scopus, n = 47,673; WOS, n = 40,305). The research was then restricted by publication date to between 2010 and 15 March 2021 (Scopus, n = 34,789; WOS, n = 31,278). Only journal articles published in English were selected (Scopus, n = 33,292; WOS, n = 30,313). Then, advanced research was conducted by combining the primary keywords with one of the secondary keywords. The results and the number of articles identified in each search step are detailed in Figure 1 . After removing duplicate articles from each database, a total of 281 journal articles (Scopus, n = 140; WOS, n = 141) were revealed. After combining both databases, 248 journal articles were obtained. These collected 248 journal articles were scanned by reading their abstracts in order to check their applicability to answering the research questions. At this point, 107 articles were excluded as they were considered irrelevant and outside the scope of the research. Finally, the total number of extracted articles was 141, as can be seen in Figure 1 . Data extraction and analysis were performed by a single reviewer (SW), and all extracted data and revealed results were double-checked by three researchers (FA, IM, and BS) to enhance the research and reduce bias in study selection. A complete description of the validity threats (Construct, Internal, External, and Conclusion Validity) following the validation process of Zhou, Jin [ 50 ] is provided in detail in Table 3 .

Research protocol following the PRISMA guidelines.

A reporting of validity threats in this systematic literature review.

Among the selected 141 articles, 28 (19.86%) were published in the Journal of Cleaner Production , 20 (14.18%) were published in Food Policy , and 5 (3.55%) were published in Quality-Access to Success . The rest of the journal names are visualized in Figure 2 .

The most popular journals publishing the 141 included articles. Others denotes journals that were cited once or twice.

After the 141 articles have been extracted, they were analyzed and summarized individually by listing all the discussed food security drivers, as well as the recommended policies for the improvement of food security and sustainable food production. Then, we synthesized the extracted information from all sources in order to identify the gaps, list the similarities between all the resources, and extract significant insights regarding the main drivers of food security and the recommended policies [ 26 ].

3.1. The Major Drivers of Food Security

Analysis of the retrieved literature revealed 34 different drivers of food security, as visualized in Figure 3 . Detailed information, along with a full citation list for all the drivers, is provided in Appendix A .

Summary of the major drivers of food security.

Most papers discussed food loss and waste (FLW) and emphasized its impact on food security [ 6 , 19 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 ]. Around one-third of the food produced globally (1.3 million tons) is wasted or lost [ 96 ]. Basher, Raboy [ 43 ] has argued that, if we could save just one-fourth of the wasted food, it would be enough to feed all the world’s undernourished people, contributing positively to FS. The previous finding supports our research findings that FLW is the primary driver of FS. To reduce FLW, Halloran, Clement [ 6 ] has argued that effective communication, more efficient food packaging, and a better consumer understanding of food packaging could lead to solutions. To decrease food loss, Garcia-Herrero, Hoehn [ 62 ] has suggested improving food labelling, enhancing consumer planning, and developing technological advances in packaging and shelf life for perishable products. Morone, Falcone [ 83 ] has suggested the repetition of large-scale research to help define a set of policies encouraging the transition to a new model for consumption that promotes sustainably procured food and dramatically reduces the amount of waste (more details are provided in Section 3.2 ).

Additionally, several authors have considered food security policy (FSP) as a driver of food security in its different forms [ 56 , 63 , 65 , 69 , 70 , 74 , 79 , 85 , 94 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 , 115 , 116 , 117 , 118 , 119 , 120 , 121 , 122 , 123 , 124 ]. The primary goal of establishing food security policies that consider the factors influencing individuals and groups is to reduce poverty and eliminate hunger. One example is safety-net programs or public food assistance programs (FAPs). The main goal of providing safety-net programs is to increase food consumption among poor people and improve food security [ 102 ].

Many papers have discussed the importance of technological advancement as an enabler of food security [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 63 , 69 , 71 , 74 , 77 , 85 , 90 , 94 , 95 , 109 , 116 , 119 , 120 , 121 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 , 136 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 ]. The use of technology to promote behavioral changes has increasingly become a vital instrument to reduce food waste and indirectly improve food security [ 130 ]. Mobile applications offer households helpful guidance on increasing shelf life and experimenting with dishes using leftovers [ 58 ]. Shukla, Singh [ 130 ] has elaborated that, at present, farmers have access to mobile applications that provide them with reasonably and timely priced information.

Some authors have discussed sustainable agricultural development and practices as enablers of food security [ 56 , 57 , 59 , 64 , 71 , 73 , 94 , 97 , 105 , 109 , 111 , 119 , 120 , 121 , 124 , 130 , 132 , 134 , 136 , 137 , 139 , 142 , 143 , 144 , 145 , 146 , 147 ]. Some authors have discussed local production enhancement as a driver of food security to enhance the self-reliance of countries [ 57 , 69 , 85 , 87 , 89 , 94 , 98 , 103 , 105 , 109 , 112 , 117 , 120 , 134 , 137 , 144 , 148 , 149 ]. For example, Ahmed, Begum [ 98 ] has emphasized how, following the GCC ban, Qatar took several successful steps to foster local production, support domestic businesses, and promote the consumption of locally produced food by its citizens. Some authors have argued that building the capacities of small farmers is essential to achieving FS. Education policies are critical for educating farmers, building their capacities, and increasing their human capital; moreover, educational programs should also include food preparation and health education programs in order to ensure the safety of consumed food [ 101 ].

The government’s role in managing a country’s agriculture can also be seen as a driver of food security [ 67 , 75 , 84 , 86 , 100 , 109 , 116 , 117 , 119 , 121 , 137 , 138 , 147 , 150 , 151 , 152 ], as it is responsible for various aspects such as designing, testing, and implementing the right policies to ensure the welfare of its citizens, while providing the necessary assistance to small-scale farmers and ensuring their safety and security in all aspects of life. Governments in developing nations must focus on R&D, agriculture infrastructure (e.g., technologies for irrigation and soil preservation), expansion services, early warning systems, or subsidized farm income in order to alter the production function of the population [ 101 ].

Many authors have discussed the importance of food safety policies as an enabler of food security [ 61 , 64 , 69 , 103 , 105 , 111 , 112 , 129 , 149 , 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 , 159 ]. Food safety policies include food and water safety at several points throughout the supply chain where food-borne diseases might develop [ 69 ]. Environmental policies are also seen as a fundamental enabler of food security [ 59 , 73 , 121 , 124 , 130 , 135 , 139 , 147 , 159 , 160 , 161 , 162 , 163 ]. Regardless of the various approaches discussed by the authors, they all agreed that environmental protection would help to ensure food availability for current and future generations. According to some authors, trade policies [ 69 , 94 , 95 , 103 , 111 , 112 , 114 , 123 , 129 , 141 , 146 , 161 , 164 ] and import policies [ 69 , 95 , 100 , 103 , 120 , 124 , 126 , 129 , 146 ] are enablers of food security. Regulating international trade can help to ensure food security. Lowering trade barriers, for example, has been proposed as a way to mitigate the adverse effects of market regulation caused by climate change [ 141 ].

Many authors have recognized policies that promote consumer education on sustainable consumption and increase consumer awareness and knowledge of the environmental impact of their purchases as a driver of food security [ 52 , 60 , 67 , 69 , 86 , 133 , 144 , 151 , 163 , 165 , 166 , 167 ]. Others have stressed proper communication among all stakeholders as a driver of food security [ 6 , 56 , 68 , 69 , 84 , 92 , 129 , 130 , 156 , 157 , 168 ]. Some authors have considered risk management as an enabler of food security [ 94 , 117 , 118 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 145 , 154 , 155 , 157 ]. For example, the aims of building a disaster risk reduction framework in the Pacific include boosting resilience, protecting investments (e.g., in infrastructure, operations, and FS), and decreasing poverty and hunger [ 169 ].

Some authors have proposed the effective gleaning process as a driver of food security [ 70 , 72 , 74 , 80 , 84 , 92 , 142 , 170 ]. Gleaning is the collection of the remaining crops in agricultural fields after their commercial harvest, or just in crop fields where their harvest is not cost-effective. Some old cultures have fostered gleaning as an early form of social assistance [ 80 ]. Some authors have considered the management of government food reserves to be a food security driver [ 64 , 104 , 112 , 117 , 118 , 124 , 136 ]. Despite the high cost of storing food, any country must maintain adequate food reserves to serve the country in case of a crisis scenario [ 171 ]. Some authors have considered integrative policies (i.e., food–water–energy, food–energy, or water–food) as a driver of food security due to their impact on environmental improvement through natural resource handling efficiency [ 56 , 73 , 133 , 139 , 172 , 173 ]. Some authors have considered establishing dietary standard policies as an enabler of food security [ 69 , 151 , 163 , 174 ]. The government should impose policies on healthy food consumption to prevent obesity, such as prohibiting trans-fats. Moreover, they should restrict trans-fat usage in food outlets, establish institutional food standards, implement menu labelling regulations for chain restaurants, and ensure that disadvantaged people have better access to healthy meals [ 151 ].

Authors have highlighted various additional arguments or policies that are considered drivers for FS such as establishing public programs to influence diets in a healthy manner, reducing yield volatility [ 85 , 94 , 105 , 119 , 124 , 126 , 175 ], the country’s natural resources [ 85 , 105 , 119 , 124 , 137 , 145 , 162 , 163 , 176 ], geopolitical and political stability [ 69 , 98 , 104 , 117 , 123 , 124 , 142 ], agricultural infrastructure [ 64 , 114 , 116 , 118 , 142 , 146 , 175 ], food distribution infrastructure [ 71 , 75 , 76 , 112 , 177 , 178 ], economic integration [ 109 , 112 , 123 , 179 , 180 ], collaboration among all supply chain stakeholders [ 75 , 130 , 134 , 157 ], proper measurement of food security dimensions [ 123 , 181 , 182 , 183 ], urban agriculture policies [ 56 , 147 , 148 ], adjustments in dietary structure [ 59 , 86 , 163 ], establishing employment programs for poor household representatives [ 110 , 152 ], customer engagement in designing public policies [ 158 ], and trust in public institutions [ 166 ].

3.2. The Recommended Policies to Alleviate the Food Insecurity

Analysis of the 141 retrieved papers revealed 17 major recommended policies, as visualized in Figure 4 . We also determined sub-policies under each category which were grouped based on common characteristics, relevance, and how they were categorized in the papers. The complete list of sub-policy categories and related references is provided in Appendix B .

The main 17 recommended policies and statistics.

Most authors recommended establishing FSP, in general, as a primary solution for food insecurity in developing and developed countries [ 56 , 57 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 69 , 81 , 85 , 87 , 89 , 91 , 94 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 , 115 , 116 , 117 , 118 , 119 , 120 , 121 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 126 , 127 , 130 , 131 , 133 , 134 , 137 , 142 , 144 , 145 , 148 , 149 , 151 , 152 , 175 , 177 , 180 , 182 , 184 , 185 ]. Many authors have suggested food consumption policies that offer safety-net programs or public food assistance programs (FAPs) such as food price subsidies, cash-based programs, structural pricing adjustments, or micro-credits as enablers of FS. The main goal of providing safety-net programs is to increase food consumption among poor people and improve food security [ 102 ]. Given the solid bidirectional causal link between poverty and malnutrition, FAPs have been recognized as critical components of the overall poverty reduction strategy. Food aid policies and initiatives can fill the gaps left by the for-profit food system and the informal (non-profit) social safety nets, ensuring food security for disadvantaged individuals, families, and communities [ 108 ]. Several authors have recommended establishing policies to enhance the performance and asset bases of small-scale farmers, such as loans, subsidies, access to information, and knowledge-sharing, to address food insecurity. Governments should adopt direct interventions such as structural price adjustments and targeted food subsidies to enhance the food access of farmers by lowering market prices and stabilizing consumption during high food price inflation [ 116 ]. Others have recommended establishing government input subsidy programs (input subsidy policies) that provide farmers with subsidies for investment into high-yielding technology (e.g., automation, fertilizers, high-yield seed). They all claimed this as an effective policy instrument for agricultural development, but each focused on a different mechanism. Shukla, Singh [ 130 ], for example, has discussed public distribution programs; Sinyolo [ 131 ] has emphasized policies aimed at increasing the amount of land planted with enhanced maize varieties among smallholder farmers; Wiebelt, Breisinger [ 124 ] has suggested investments in water-saving technologies, while Tokhayeva, Almukhambetova [ 137 ] have proposed the development of an agricultural innovation system. Others have recommended rural development policies to reduce yield volatility and improve the agricultural infrastructure (e.g., irrigation and water-saving technologies). Governments in developing nations must focus on R&D, agricultural infrastructure (technologies for irrigation and soil preservation), expansion services, and early warning systems [ 101 ]. Technological advancement, in general, is seen as a vital element in reducing yield volatility [ 85 ]. Capacity-building policies (e.g., educational, training, and technical support) have received considerable attention in the literature as a fundamental component of urban farming initiatives, and as attempts to promote self-reliance and networking. Capacity building in many areas connected to urban agriculture is essential for equipping residents with knowledge and expertise [ 148 ]. To enhance FS, some researchers have suggested policies supporting locally produced food, diversified agricultural production policies, policies that impact farm-level commodity pricing, food stock policies, establishing policies to increase the income of farmers, buffer stock policies, and resource allocation policies (for a complete list of references, see Appendix B ).

Many authors have proposed different policy recommendations to reduce food waste and, thus, food insecurity [ 6 , 19 , 51 , 52 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 103 , 130 , 138 , 144 , 150 , 160 , 167 , 168 , 170 , 177 ]. Many have agreed on the importance of policies that promote information and education campaigns that spread awareness at household and public levels by improving meal planning and management in consumers. However, each author suggested a different approach. For example, Schanes, Dobernig [ 58 ] have discussed face-to-face door-stepping campaigns (online and in traditional newspaper leaflets), word-of-mouth, and television shows or movies. However, Septianto, Kemper [ 66 ] have highlighted the importance of social marketing campaign design and framing (having vs. not having) in conveying the intended message to consumers. Tucho and Okoth [ 73 ] have asserted the advantages of producing bio-wastes and bio-fertilizers from food waste and human excreta (in a food–energy–sanitation nexus approach), and also advocated for educating families on how to do so at the household level. Xu, Zhang [ 86 ] has argued that governments should help society to develop a logical perspective on food consumption and aggressively promote the habit of eating simple meals, particularly in social catering. Von Kameke and Fischer [ 52 ] and Zorpas, Lasaridi [ 60 ] have emphasized the importance of teaching customers about efficient meal planning to reduce food waste. Von Kameke and Fischer [ 52 ] have proposed using the Nudging tool rather than campaigning. Xu, Zhang [ 86 ] have suggested initiating suitable policy instruments to nudge individuals to adopt sustainable consumption habits, with important implications for decreasing food waste and increasing food security in China. Smart (innovative) food packaging and labelling policies have received significant attention in the literature, as they are critical in reducing food waste and, thus, improving FS. The nature, size, and labelling of the packaging impact the lifetime of the food. Smart packaging innovations and new technologies are steadily penetrating markets, thus increasing the shelf-life of foods through enhanced protection, communication, convenience, and control [ 58 ].

Food banks, food sharing, and food rescue policies have also received significant attention in the global literature, as they help reduce food waste and improve FS. Food banking is a critical long-term rescue policy for re-distributing surplus food to those in need and reducing poverty and food insecurity [ 80 , 92 ]. Several authors have recommended positive sanctions such as financial rewards, tax credits, federal and state funding, vouchers, or reduced taxes to decrease food waste and improve FS. Positive sanctions consist mainly of financial incentives to encourage restaurants and grocery retailers to donate their leftover food [ 60 ]. Addressing liability concerns might be one incentive, as the research participants have highlighted this as a universal barrier and that this issue, in particular, must be handled [ 51 ]. Negative sanction policies have received considerable attention in the literature as a tool for reducing food waste and improving FS. These include fines and fees imposed on companies and individuals accountable for food waste [ 58 ]. Taxes and fines are a potential way to manage and motivate restaurants and retailers to donate their leftover food to charities and community centers [ 65 ].

The establishment of policies that regulate the sharing of information and knowledge among supply chain stakeholders has received some attention in the literature in terms of reducing food waste and improving food security. Comprehensive food waste legislation has been discussed as a potential enabler of food security. A possible regulatory tool would be to revise and remove unnecessary food safety requirements that result in excessive food waste levels [ 58 ]. According to Halloran, Clement [ 6 ], food waste increased due to European food safety regulations and standardization. Food waste recycling policies have been used as a method to reduce food waste. Food waste can be utilized for value generation at any point of the food supply chain process through efficient techniques, then reincorporated into the cycle [ 77 ]. Food waste has a long history as a source of ecologically friendly animal feed [ 61 ].

A few authors have highlighted the impact of technological advancement (e.g., mobile applications) as a strategy to reduce food waste. Some authors have proposed implementing gleaning operation policies that provide tax incentives and government assistance to gleaners in order to decrease food waste. Some authors have proposed implementing peak storage reduction policies, such as stock-holding incentives. Nudging tools (which nudge people toward forming sustainable consumption behaviors) have been mentioned by a few authors.

Food safety policies received significant attention in the retrieved literature [ 61 , 64 , 69 , 70 , 103 , 105 , 111 , 112 , 120 , 125 , 129 , 130 , 137 , 138 , 149 , 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 , 159 ]; however, they have been discussed in various different forms. Few authors have discussed food quality and food hygiene compliance certifications. Compliance with sanitary standards is required to maintain the best practices for preventing food-borne diseases and food security threats [ 155 ]. Other authors have discussed the importance of food safety standards. Meanwhile, few authors have emphasized the importance of food safety throughout the supply chain, but each proposed a different strategy to achieve it. For example, some authors have suggested using an effective IT system [ 130 ], RFID [ 138 ], or developing food safety training policies [ 155 ].

Many authors have advocated for the implementation of trade policies to address food insecurity in developing and developed countries [ 94 , 95 , 101 , 103 , 111 , 112 , 119 , 123 , 129 , 136 , 141 , 146 , 148 , 149 , 152 , 157 , 161 , 164 , 178 , 180 ], but in different contexts. For example, some have suggested establishing infrastructure development policies that target agricultural logistic infrastructure, or improving the speed and quality of shipping logistics. In contrast, some authors have agreed on the importance of state trading and private trade-supporting policies. Others have suggested the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, while a few authors recommended reliable marine connection and transportation logistics policies.

Environmental policies are a fundamental enabler of food security [ 59 , 73 , 94 , 120 , 121 , 124 , 130 , 135 , 139 , 141 , 145 , 147 , 159 , 160 , 161 , 162 , 163 , 166 ]. However, authors have focused on many different aspects of these policies. Some authors, for example, have emphasized the importance of establishing policies to mitigate the effects of climate change. Others were too specific, suggesting greenhouse gas reduction policies, and proposed penalizing non-compliance. Due to the strong links between climate change, poverty, and food insecurity, some authors have proposed establishing coordinating policies among the three. Other authors have stressed the consideration of policies that encourage the optimization of fertilizer use.

Many authors have considered food import policies as a solution to food insecurity [ 94 , 95 , 100 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 109 , 112 , 116 , 117 , 119 , 120 , 124 , 126 , 134 , 146 ]; however, most authors provided different opinions regarding the most effective policy to implement. For example, some authors have stressed the importance of policies that provide direct government financial assistance to local agriculture, or the importance of policies that sustain local agricultural product prices compared to imported products. Some have recommended providing temporary tax benefits for agricultural investment, while others recommended import ban (substitution) policies. A few authors have recommended direct budget subsidies, subsidized loan interest rates, and strategies for the diversification of imported food origin.

Many authors have discussed the importance of establishing a common agricultural policy (CAP) to address sustainable agriculture [ 56 , 57 , 64 , 89 , 109 , 111 , 118 , 119 , 132 , 142 , 143 , 149 , 161 , 172 , 184 , 186 ]. Others have stressed the importance of food surplus policies in enhancing a country’s food security status [ 51 , 58 , 70 , 72 , 75 , 76 , 79 , 82 , 84 , 90 , 91 ]. Some authors have suggested strategies to regulate a company’s liability regarding the donation of surplus food. A few authors have proposed food policies that subsidize the purchase of surplus food—also known as “ugly food”—by controlling for prices and surplus item characteristics. Some authors have suggested establishing food loss policies. However, few authors have specified the need for policies promoting food loss quantification.

Many authors have discussed the policies that promote traceability across the whole supply chain as an enabler for food security [ 56 , 69 , 103 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 137 , 138 , 168 , 178 ]. However, the different authors discussed different technologies such as investment into information technology such as RFID, effective IT systems, ICT systems, and blockchain technology. Government policies should promote investments into traceability systems that focus on rapid withdrawal in unsafe food scenarios such as product recall regulations, fines imposed on hazardous product distributors, and food-borne food risk monitoring [ 129 ]. Many authors have discussed various risk management strategies to improve a country’s food security [ 94 , 117 , 118 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 145 , 154 , 155 , 157 ]. However, each considered a different approach to overcome the risk. Specifically, they have discussed food scandal policies, the COVID-19 pandemic, programmed risk identification, proactive policy measures to handle flood crises, early warning systems for natural disasters, or risk management throughout the food supply chain. Some authors have highlighted water quality policies such as efficient water-use policies, improving water resources policies, using water-efficient crops, investments into water-saving technologies, and food and water safety throughout the supply chain.

Some authors have discussed the management of government food reserves as an enabler of food security [ 64 , 104 , 112 , 117 , 118 , 124 , 136 ], and others have discussed integrative and coherent policies between food, water, and energy (as a nexus) [ 56 , 73 , 133 , 139 , 172 , 173 ]. Meanwhile, other authors have discussed policies that promote consumer education on sustainable consumption, improving consumer status awareness and knowledge regarding the ecological impact of their purchases [ 60 , 69 , 133 , 144 , 163 , 165 ]. Few authors have addressed the importance of dietary standard policies [ 69 , 151 , 163 , 174 ], urban agriculture policies [ 56 , 147 , 148 ], and food-aid policies [ 118 , 150 ].

Some policies were suggested in one paper only such as devising the right population policy in China [ 85 ], flexible retail modernization policies [ 158 ], policies that facilitate short-term migration [ 187 ], policies to stimulate equitable economic growth through manufacturing and services [ 95 ], and sound research governance policies [ 140 ].

4. Discussion

In this section, we discuss the polices and drivers in the greater areas, then compare them based on specific contexts. This approach serves to provide better understanding, thus informing decision-makers about the importance of choosing the right policies through considering many food security dimensions. By looking deeply at the extracted food security drivers and policies and the way in which they can be applied to each country’s context, we take an example from the MENA region. The MENA region includes a diverse range of nations, including low-income and less-developed (e.g., Sudan, Syria, and Yemen), low–middle-income (e.g., Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, and Tunisia), upper middle-income (e.g., Jordan, Lebanon, and Libya), and high-income (e.g., the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia) countries [ 126 ]. As food availability is a serious problem in the MENA region low-income countries (Syria and Yemen), due to war and violent conflicts [ 188 ], policies aimed at increasing food availability continue to pique the interest of policy-makers. In these countries, where citizens are incapable of fulfilling their basic food needs [ 189 ], the existence of food security policies in different forms is crucial for achieving food security [ 53 , 97 , 98 , 124 , 184 ], more than FLW policies. Policy-makers should focus on ensuring the availability of either locally produced or imported food, which requires appropriate trade policies to deal with food shortages and improve the availability dimension in these countries. Trade policies should focus on creating infrastructure development policies that target agricultural logistic infrastructure, improve the speed and quality of shipping logistics, and establish reliable marine connections and transportation logistics policies that remove tariff and non-tariff barriers.

Policy-makers should establish import policies that sustain local agricultural product prices compared to imported products, provide direct government financial assistance to local agriculture, and provide temporary tax benefits for agricultural investment.

Additionally, the governments should improve food access in the MENA region low-income countries by reducing or stabilizing consumer and producer food prices. To enhance food access, FSPs (e.g., education policies in general and capacity-building policies) may help to improve individual human capital. Governments also must provide supplemental feeding programs, typically targeting vulnerable groups in need of special diets, such as pregnant women and children [ 101 ].

Moreover, the government should improve credit access through the following means: policies that enhance the performance and asset base of small-scale farmers; the existence of policies that impact farm-level commodity pricing, thus retaining farmers and increasing local production; the existence of government input subsidy programs for individuals, and the existence of policies supporting locally produced food. These are all possible policies to improve the MENA region FS. Governments and global health organizations should promote food utilization in MENA low-income countries through the development of policies that monitor overall food quality, such as access to clean water and micronutrient fortification, or through individual educational programs on safe food preparation [ 155 ]. Finally, enhancing food quality can optimize the individual nutrient absorption [ 101 ].

In contrast, discussions of food security in the MENA region high-income countries have indicated that food availability, access, and utilization are generally higher and not a problem. However, food stability is low, which requires the attention of policy-makers to improve FS. Food stability impacts the other food security pillars (access, availability, and utilization). Moreover, it requires the economic, political, and social sustainability of food systems, which are vulnerable to environmental conditions, land distribution, available resources, conflicts, and political situations [ 190 ]. Food stability necessitates increased efforts and expenditures to achieve food security in the sustainable development goals, especially in light of increased academic and governmental interest in incorporating sustainability values into policies.

As food waste is prevalent in these countries, FLW policies are more critical than FSP, which is in alignment with our findings regarding food security drivers. FLW makes it difficult for the poor in developing countries to access food by significantly depleting natural resources such as land, water, and fossil fuels while raising the greenhouse gas emissions related to food production [ 115 ]. Addressing food loss and waste in these countries can hugely influence the reduction of wasted food and indirectly enhance food security. The number of food-insecure individuals may be reduced in developing regions by up to 63 million by reducing food loss, which will directly reduce the over-consumption of cultivated areas, water, and greenhouse gas emissions related to food production [ 115 ]. According to Abiad and Meho [ 189 ], food waste produced at the household level differs across MENA-region countries. For example, it ranges from 68 to 150 kg/individual/year in Oman, 62–76 kg/individual/year in Iraq, 194–230 kg/individual/year in Palestine, and 177–400 kg/individual/year in the UAE. It is critical to take more aggressive but scientifically sound initiatives to minimize FLW, which will require the participation of everyone involved in the food supply chain such as policy-makers, food producers and suppliers, and the final consumers [ 191 , 192 ]. Food waste reflects an inefficient usage of valuable agricultural input resources and contributes to unnecessary environmental depletion [ 191 , 193 ]. Furthermore, food loss is widely recognized as a major obstacle to environmental sustainability and food security in developing nations [ 194 ]. Preventing FLW can result in a much more environmentally sustainable agricultural production and consumption process by increasing the efficiency and productivity of resources, especially water, cropland, and nutrients [ 115 , 191 , 192 , 195 ]. Preventing FLW is crucial in areas where water scarcity is a prevalent concern, as irrigated agriculture makes up a sizeable portion of total food production, and yield potential may not be fully achieved under nutrient or water shortages [ 191 , 196 , 197 ]. According to the study of Chen, Chaudhary [ 197 ], food waste per capita in high-income countries is enough to feed one individual a healthy balanced diet for 18 days. Chen, Chaudhary [ 197 ] also found that high-income countries have embedded environmental effects that are ten times greater than those of low-income countries, and they tend to waste six times more food by weight than low-income countries. Consequently, implementing proper FLW policies in high-income countries can help to alleviate the food insecurity problem while maintaining the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of future food production.

Implementing effective food storage techniques and capacities is considered a key component of a comprehensive national food security plan to promote both food utilization and food stability; furthermore, proper food storage at the household level maintains food products for a more prolonged period [ 198 ]. Encouragement of economic integration between MENA region countries is very applicable considering the heterogeneity of these countries. For example, countries with limited arable land and high income, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, can invest in countries with a lower middle income, such as Egypt, and use its land to benefit both countries. On the other hand, Boratynska and Huseynov [ 101 ] have proposed food technology innovation as a sustainable driver of food security and a promising solution to the problem of food insecurity in developing countries. Due to the higher food production demand to support the expanding urban population while having limited water and land availability, higher investments in technology and innovation are needed to ensure that food systems are more resilient [ 190 ]. Boratynska and Huseynov [ 101 ] have argued that, in general, using innovative technologies to produce healthy food products is frequently a concern. However, improving the probability that innovative food technology will enable the production of a diverse range of food products with enhanced texture and flavor while also providing a variety of health advantages to the final consumer is essential. Jalava, Guillaume [ 193 ] have argued that, along with reducing FLW, shifting people’s diets from animal- to plant-based foods can help to slow environmental degradation.

The MENA region example described above can be adapted to different regions based on their food security situation, and relevant policies can be devised to improve food security more sustainably.

5. Conclusions

Food security is a complicated and multi-faceted issue that cannot be restricted to a single variable, necessitating the deeper integration of many disciplinary viewpoints. It is essential to admit the complexity of designing the right policy to improve food security that matches each country’s context [ 46 ] while considering the three pillars of sustainability. Furthermore, it is of utmost importance to implement climate-friendly agricultural production methods to combat food insecurity and climate change [ 12 ]. Mapping the determinants of food security contributes to better understanding of the issue and aids in developing appropriate food security policies to enhance environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

This research contributes to the body of knowledge by summarizing the main recommended policies and drivers of food security detailed in 141 research articles, following a systematic literature review methodology. We identified 34 food security drivers and outlined 17 recommended policies to improve food security and contribute to sustainable food production. Regarding the drivers, one of the foremost priorities to drive food security is reducing FLW globally, followed by food security policies, technological advancement, sustainable agricultural development, and so on (see Appendix A ). Regarding the recommended policies, most studies have detailed the contents and impacts of food security policies, food waste policies, food safety policies, trade policies, environmental policies, import policies, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), food surplus policies, and so on (see Appendix B ).

5.1. Policy Implications

We assessed the obtained results in comparison to the latest version of the GFSI. Using the GFSI (2021) indicators as a proxy resulted in the identification of gaps and specific policy implications of the results. The idea was to identify which of the policies and drivers have been already implemented and which have not (or, at least, have not been very successfully implemented). We used the GFSI as it is a very well-established benchmarking tool used globally by 113 countries to measure the food security level. We examined the indicators mentioned under each of the four dimensions of food security, and listed associations with the identified policies and drivers found in the literature. Accordingly, we suggest the addition of two dimensions to the current index:

• Sustainability

The first dimension relates to measuring the sustainability dimensions that each participating country adopts in its food production process. We noticed that many authors stressed the importance of the existence of clear environmental policies that drive long-term food security. However, the current GFSI lacks indicators measuring this dimension. The reviewed literature suggested environmental indicators considering optimized fertilizer use, carbon taxes, aquaculture environment, bio-energy, green and blue infrastructure, gas emissions reduction policies, policies to reduce the impacts of climate change, and heavy metal soil contamination monitoring.

• Consumer representation

The second dimension is related to consumer voice representation within the GFSI. The reviewed literature suggested implementing policy measures that promote consumer education on sustainable consumption and improve the consumer status, consciousness, and knowledge regarding the ecological impact of their purchases. Any sustainability initiative should be supported and implemented by the final consumer.

Additional gaps in the policies and drivers of food security were identified and allocated under the relevant indicators in the GFSI based on the four dimensions of food security. Under the affordability dimension, we found a lack of policies in the reviewed literature addressing the Inequality-adjusted income index. Regarding the Change in average food costs indicator, we observed that the policies that exist in the literature concern the farmer level only (e.g., policies that impact farm-level commodity pricing and policies supporting locally produced food), and not all of the citizens at the national level. Additionally, policies that promote traceability across the whole supply chain were missing. There were no policies in the reviewed literature under the food quality and safety dimension representing the following: the dietary diversity indicator; micronutrient availability (e.g., dietary availability of vitamin A, iron, and zinc); regulation of the protein quality indicator; the food safety indicator (specifically the two sub-indicators of food safety mechanisms and access to drinking water), and illustration of the national nutrition plan or strategy indicator. Therefore, future research should pay more attention to and emphasize the importance of such policies, particularly in developed countries seeking to improve their food security status and score high on the GFSI.

Moreover, the reviewed literature suggested “developing food safety training policies” to improve food safety and FS; however, no indicators or sub-indicators within the GFSI represent such training policies. The GFSI developers should pay more attention to safety training practices and include them in the index’s future development. Under the availability dimension, the reviewed literature suggested establishing a food loss policy that promotes the quantification of food loss under the food loss indicator. This indicator should be enhanced through well-articulated policies that address the problem of food loss and attempt to mitigate its impact. However, while there were various policies concerning food waste or surplus, there were no indicators within the GFSI that represented food loss. As food loss and waste was identified as the primary driver of food security in this study, we recommend expanding the GFSI to include food loss quantification and reduction policies under the availability dimension. Finally, under the political commitment to adaptation dimension, some policies were identified in the reviewed literature in two sub-indicators: early warning measures/climate-smart agriculture (e.g., proactive policy measures to handle flood crises, programmed risk identification, and early warning systems for natural disasters) and disaster risk management (e.g., food scandals, COVID-19, and risk management throughout the food supply chain). However, under the other two relevant sub-indicators—commitment to managing exposure and national agricultural adaptation policy—there were no identified policies.

5.2. Contributions of the Study

The key contributions of this study to the existing literature are threefold. First, we identified the (34) main food security drivers and the (17) most-recommended policies to improve food security and enhance the future food production sustainability. Several studies have partially covered this area, but none have employed a systematic literature review of 141 papers covering such an scope in this topic. The gravity of food security worldwide is well established; hence the contribution of this work. Second, we provide a reflection of policies/drivers on the latest version of the GFSI, resulting in more tangible policy implications (see Section 5.1 ). Third, through a systematic literature review, we identified elements not listed under the GFSI that could be considered in its future revision. Examples include environmental policies/indicators such as optimized fertilizer use, carbon taxes, aquaculture environment, bio-energy, green and blue infrastructure, gas emission reduction, policies to reduce the impact of climate change, and heavy metal soil contamination monitoring; consumer representation, as the reviewed literature suggested policy measures that promote consumer education on sustainable consumption, as well as improving consumer status, consciousness, and knowledge regarding the ecological impact of their purchases; and traceability throughout the entire supply chain.

5.3. Study Limitations and Future Research

In this study, we identified the major drivers and the recommended policies to improve food security and enhance the future food production sustainability based on the reviewed literature. However, we recommend conducting a Delphi research study in consultation with policy-makers and industry experts. A Delphi study can be used to validate the findings of this systematic literature review based on a specific country’s context. This research was conducted using only 141 articles from two databases; therefore, we suggest replicating this research using different databases, which will allow for the inclusion of more related papers. Moreover, this research included only peer-reviewed articles, which may be considered, based on the guidelines of Keele [ 185 ], as a source of publication bias. Future research may consider including gray literature and conference proceedings. This research did not include the three sustainability pillars within its research string; therefore, we recommend considering the inclusion of the three pillars in future research. Future research should also investigate the use of alternative protein food technology innovation, such as plant-based protein, cultured meat, and insect-based protein, as a sustainable solution to the food security problem. Additionally, understanding the factors influencing acceptance of various technologies by the final consumer is particularly important given some regional characteristics such as harsh arid environments and the scarcity of arable land, freshwater, and natural resources.

Appendix A. Summary Table of Major Drivers of Food Security

Appendix B. Summary Table of Most-Recommended Policies

Funding Statement

This research was funded by the UAE Ministry of Education, Resilient Agrifood Dynamism through evidence-based policies-READY project, grant number 1733833.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, S.W., F.A., B.S. and I.M.; methodology, S.W., F.A., B.S. and I.M.; validation, S.W., F.A., B.S. and I.M.; formal analysis, S.W.; investigation, S.W., F.A., B.S. and I.M.; resources, I.M. and B.S.; data curation, S.W.; writing—original draft preparation, S.W.; writing—review and editing, F.A.; visualization, S.W.; supervision, F.A., B.S. and I.M.; project administration, B.S. and I.M.; funding acquisition, B.S. and I.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Food Waste Management Essay

“Have you ever thrown away food and then afterwards feel guilty of where it could have gone? We as a group have decided to focus on food waste for the reason of the massive amount of food that gets wasted each year. More than 70 billion pounds of food gets thrown away every year and if we don’t change this it can lead to world hunger.

Food waste has developed over the whole existence of humans and has only been getting worse. This issue is becoming worse over the years because of oversized proportions and ignorance. This keep getting worse if we don’t do anything to stop it the amount of food that is being wasted to unreasonably high and there are simple solutions to solve this problem. For example save uneaten food for later or just plainly getting a smaller proportion. One in six Americans are food insecure, which will keep increasing if we don’t put a stop to this food waste.

For many people on the planet, food is a given. But for the staggering more than 820 million people who are hungry, food is not a guarantee. 1.6 billion tons of food worth around $1.2 trillion are lost or wasted every year, the study found, and the problem is only getting worse. If we don’t do something to stop this than the problem will just keep escalating. Food waste is set to increase by 33% in the next ten years. Recents studies show that 92% restaurants in america serve oversized food proportions. This is one of many examples of food waste that occurs every day. One solution to this is to get and serve smaller proportions.

Californians throw away nearly 6 million tons of food each year, this represents about 18 percent of all the material that goes to landfills. Imagine if that food wasn’t thrown away how many people that could have feed. “This represents about 18 percent of all the material that goes to landfills. According to CalRecycle, “In order for California to reach its goal of 75% percent source reduction, recycling and composting, food waste must be addressed.” Food waste has indeed become an issue of great public concern. Food waste is the intentional discarding of edible items, mainly by retailers and consumers and mainly occurs in developed regions.

Another way to put this is that people die because they don’t have food and this could easily be prevented if people get smaller proportions. According to BCG estimated, “By 2030, food waste will increase to 2.1 billion tons, worth around $1.5 trillion.” This shows that food waste is a major problem and other than food being wasted, money is also being wasted. Every food insecure person in the world could be fed on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US and Europe. Just think about all of the 1 billion food insecure people next time you buy an oversized proportion of food.

California alone throw away 5.6 million tons of food every year which is 18% of the states food waste. Refrigerators in the U.S have grown in size by 15% due to since the 1970 due to people buying larger portions of food. According to Food Waste FAQs when a person goes grocery shopping on average they waste about 30 to 40 percent of the food they buy. People sometimes buy unnecessary food products that they don’t end up using it or they forget about which makes it get spoiled or they assume its gone bad so they throw it away. A new study shows that yearly in the U.S restaurants lose 2 billion dollars in profit due to food waste.

Restaurants are a major factor to the causes of food waste, they waste 22 to 33 billion pounds of food every year. It is around 25% of the food we waste each year, which cost around 56 billion dollars. Since the 1970 the average food plate served by restaurants has increased by 138% making more than double the size. In the 197o burgers only weighed 5.9 oz now they weigh 7.3 oz making it almost an increase by 2 ounces, the average weight of french fries in the w1977 was 2.1 oz now they weigh 3.3 oz. This shows the mass of food has increased over the years, which only increases the food waste.

People buy way too much food and don’t eat half of it, nor do they plan out the amount of food their going to use to cook or to eat. Farmers and food manufactures over produce food for us to buy in the time. Storage is also a huge problem for manufactures they over produce food and don’t know where to store a percent of it. Farmers sometimes plant crops to early as a response to lack of food and money. Fresh produce such as meat and fish sometimes spoiled do the hot climate.

One experience I’ve had dealt with in relationship to food waste is within my Culinary art class. I see a lot of leftovers, rot ingredients, and good food gets thrown away every day. In a recent study led by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) it talks about how much MSW (municipal solid waste) is thrown away each year. It is estimated that 39.7 million tons of food gets thrown away each year. Another solution to decrease the amount of food waste each year is by composting.

Solutions, solutions to our problems are not that hard they are pretty simple actually. One of the simplest ways to minimize food waste is by checking the labels of the food you buy to make sure you can eat them on time before they rot. In the article “ Would you eat food made with ‘thrash?’ by Emily Matchar It talk about making food from trash. It uses the example of making ketchup out of old tomatoes. It states “The problem of food waste has been getting more attention in recent years. Globally, up to one-third of all food is spoiled or lost before it can be eaten.” this is here to show that food waste is still a common problem a lot of people don’t notice.

Food waste is a problem which has a negative effect on both humans and the environment. Food waste that decomposes in a landfill produces methane, methane is a gas that is 28 times more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Methane absorbs the sun’s heat causing an increase in the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere, this increase in temperature contributes to Global Warming causing more problems. Food Waste also affects humans because food wasted is money wasted. Statistics show the average American family wastes ? the food they purchase, that means they are wasting money on food they don’t need. Food waste also accounts for the great amount of water wasted all around the world. Agriculture uses 70% of the water throughout the world, so any produce that gets thrown away is water being wasted. Water is crucial for our survival so we want to make sure it doesn’t go to waste.

Food waste has many indirect influences that cause greater problems. One of these problems is World Hunger, food waste is the root to all hunger worldwide. Food is being wasted at all stages of production. Food waste starts at harvest due to lack of resources and continues till the food reaches your plate and you throw it away. Approximately ? of the world’s food is being wasted every year, that’s enough to feed 2 billion people. Food waste also causes Global Warming, when we produce food we release greenhouse gases which heat up our atmosphere. Therefore if reduce the amount of food wasted we can decrease the greenhouse emissions produced by food production. However the World’s population is constantly increasing which means that food production must increase as well, an increase in food production would cause even more global warming. Therefore reducing food waste is beneficial to our atmosphere and humans. Just by reducing food waste you can help reduce World Hunger and Global Warming.

In conclusion, food waste is a problem which occurs worldwide and affects both humans and our environment in a negative way. Food waste indirectly creates greater problems such as Global Warming and World Hunger. Therefore reducing our food waste would be beneficial to both humans and our environment. Food waste is hurting our environment and you can help, if everyone minimizes the amount of food they waste the world would be a much better place. We can reduce World Hunger and Global warming if we just waste less food. Earth would be healthier and more people would be able to eat. So all in all, hopefully this essay helped you realise the negative impacts food waste has on our earth and how you can help.

Cesar Barajas

• uny.edu/koutavas3/background-info
• https://foodprint.org/issues/the-problem-of-food-waste/
• https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-have-food-portions-increased-2016-4#the-perfect-salt
• https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-have-food-portions-increased-2016-4#the-perfect-salty-snack-3
• https://newsela.com/read/elem-food-from-trash/id/39312/
• https://www.nrdc.org/issues/food-waste
• https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-wasted-food-home
• https://www.wfpusa.org/stories/8-facts-to-know-about-food-waste-and-hunger/
• https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/fight-climate-change-by-preventing-food-waste
• https://stopwastingfoodmovement.org/food-waste/food-waste-facts/
• https://www.ecowatch.com/food-waste-increase-2597861750.html
• https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/food

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Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Environment Problems — Food Waste

Essays on Food Waste

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The Need to Provide Right Attitudes About Food Waste Among Students

Advantages & disadvantages of buying food locally, an analysis of the rampant food waste america produce, factors that impacts personal consumption and food waste, let us write you an essay from scratch.

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The Current Problem of Food Waste

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Potential Methods for Reducing Food Waste

Food waste in america, environmental issues: causes and consequences of food waste, "an edible history of humanity" analysis, fed up: analyzing the crisis of the modern food industry, challenges and opportunities in reducing food waste (2023-2024), the collective responsibility in mitigating food waste (2023-2024), understanding and unpacking food waste (2023-2024), innovating and strategizing for a future with reduced food waste (2023-2024), ethical dimensions and socio-economic ramifications of food waste (2023-2024), world hunger solution, advantages and disadvantages of jackfruit, meat eating vs veganism: a comprehensive analysis.

Food “waste” refers to food that is fit for consumption but consciously discarded at the retail or consumption phases.

The causes of food waste are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and consumption.

Food loss and waste is a major part of the impact of agriculture on climate change (it amounts to 3.3 billion tons of CO2e emissions annually) and other environmental issues, such as land use, water use and loss of biodiversity.

Prevention of food waste, reuse, animal feed, and recycling of nutrients.

One third of all food produced is lost or wasted – around 1.3 billion tonnes of food. Up to 10% of global greenhouse gases comes from food that is produced, but not eaten. Wasting food is worse than total emissions from flying (1.9%), plastic production (3.8%) and oil extraction (3.8%). Almost half of all fruit and vegetables produced are wasted.

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Food Waste - Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

Food Waste refers to the discarding or loss of food that could have been consumed. Essays might delve into the reasons for food waste, its environmental, economic, and social implications, and potential solutions to reduce it. This topic can also touch on the contrast between food wastage and global hunger issues. A substantial compilation of free essay instances related to Food Waste you can find at PapersOwl Website. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Food Waste Causes and Effects

Food waste means to throw food away even it is still able to eat. According to The European Commission, food waste means misuse combined with fresh or cooked food components and combines food abandoned at any moment, which means in family units associating with food waste created before, during or after food preparedness, such as skins of garden produces, cut of flesh, and decay or oversupply materials or cooked food. (van der Werf, Seabrook, and Gilliland, 2018). A whole adaption […]

Stop Food Waste

Have you ever considered what happens to all of the extra food and drinks that are cast aside unopened at the end of each lunch period? The ugly truth is that all of that perfectly good food is thrown away, contributing to the millions of tons, 63 million tons to be exact, of food wasted every year in the United States. Those 63 million tons of food amount to about 40 of the total food that is produced in the […]

Love Food Hate Waste

The global food crisis is currently affecting more than one-sixth of the world's population. The number of people suffering from starvation and undernourishment is increasing at an alarming rate and will continue to increase if a solution is not found soon. The food scarcity being experienced throughout the world is caused by many factors including urbanization, climate change, population increase, and much more. One of the biggest factors playing a part in the global food crisis is food waste. Approximately […]

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Global Food Waste: how to Effectively and Efficiently Battle Food Waste

Abstract The topic of my research will be about finding initiatives and/or implementing existing initiatives on combatting global food waste and eventually helping those in need. So basically it is about creating a sustainable balance in the food industry and market on a global scale. It is a relevant topic that affects our economy and lives every day, directly and indirectly. While in one country people are starving, in another country people are wasting edible food that could’ve been distributed […]

Food Waste Affects Everyone

Once something is thrown away, the majority of people stop thinking about it and aren't interested in what happened to the people that don't have food. Food is a prevalent waste item in the United States. When people become full or do not fully enjoy something they start with a new plate of food. Few people stop and think about the resources it took to produce, transport, and prepare the food that is being thrown away casually. Food waste is […]

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations or FAO (2017), defines food waste and food losses as ""the decrease of food in subsequent stages of the food supply chain intended for human consumption"". In other words, this means in the supply chain, from the moment food is planted and harvested to the moment humans buy it and consume it, the amount of produce there was in the beginning has significantly dropped because it gets lost on the way […]

Food Waste Problem in the United States of America

In the past decade, consumer behavior in the United States and the world has become the guileless act of acquiring goods and services to maintain households, but also to pursue human satisfaction of personal needs and wants. The entire economy is wasteful; it is based on the human urge to consume and society further persuades customers to believe that they are king, and that the customer is always right. What this has created in modern society is the shop until […]

Food Waste in United States

In average, an American citizen will produce 4.4 pounds of trash in a single day. With the population of the United States being about 324 million, this equates daily to about 700,000 tons of trash produced. The biggest amount of wasted resources, though, is food waste. 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted across the globe in the span of one year (Loki). The effect of this kind of waste on the environment is extremely destructive and detrimental. […]

Plastic Pollution in the USA

In America we love plastic! We use it in our everyday life because it’s super convenient, but most people rarely think about the impact plastic has on the world around us. The downside of these qualities is that, unlike other materials, plastic does not biodegrade and it takes over hundreds of years for it to break down causing an increase every day to plastic pollution. Those billions of plastics end up in our oceans. This has become a cause of […]

Grocery Store Food Waste

Over 30 percent of food in America is wasted due to grocery stores, producers, and even customers. Thirty percent of food is about $162 billion dollars being wasted on food which isn't even consumed. A major cause of food waste is a customer's view on how aesthetic the product is. We are the problem, consumers are expecting perfect produce, which causes a huge effect on the market, and grocery stores wasting perfectly healthy produce. If you go to a local […]

Food Waste Due to Poor Products

The idea of food aid originated from the excess amount of agricultural commodities around the time of the Great Depression. There was an abundance of food during this time, so the Food Stamp Act of 1964 was created in hopes to counteract this and to also assist those in need, or those that would be considered “food insecure.” Food insecurity is divided into two different types, low and very low, and is defined by The United States Department of Agriculture […]

Food Wastage Behavior of Consumers in UMD

The secondary sources will be used in order to define problem and establish its scope and the sources were categorized in terms of methodologies used and the issues addresses (e.g. food choice, handling, disposal). In order to find a solution to the problem, I will focus on conducting the study with both secondary and primary research on consumer behavior regarding food waste. Moreover, the combination of quantitative surveys, experiment and qualitative research will be undertaken to clarify how certain cultural […]

Food Waste: Reducing the Transport of Cows

In 2019 America, humans acquire large quantities of beef without thinking too much about the environmental impacts the beef was involved in in getting from point A to point B. Going all the way back to the cow, beef plays quite a large role in the destruction of our environment. When most people get this picture, they would get the idea that it relates to the amount of gas consumed by the delivery vehicle to deliver the fresh beef to […]

Food Waste: Starbucks Coffee Company

Starbucks Coffee Company is known for their deep roots in their local communities while providing opportunities in and outside of the company. However, one opportunity for the company to become more involved with donating daily food waste to local communities. Multiple food items often reach the sale by date and must be removed; despite the food being well within its expiration for consumption. The company has started with small changes, yet there is no specific standard for donating companywide; therefore, […]

Reducing Food Waste in Australia

Reducing food Waste by 20% in a year through Changing Food Practices and Behavior amongst Young Adults (18-24 years old) in New South Wales. Food waste is a growing national problem in Australia. It accounts to a billion worth of food waste each year. It is wasted through production, retail, and consumer wastes. Food insecurity and obesity cohabit in this problem. Food insecurity exists when there is limited or uncertain access to nutritious and safe food. Obesity in this context […]

Reducing Food Waste

There a few things to consider when throwing out the container of strawberries that sat in the refrigerator for weeks. By doing so, this amounts to a major misuse of natural resources like water, land, energy, as well as labor. Also, this waste disposal contributes to Greenhouse Emissions, Global Warming, and Climate Change. ""Up to one-third of all food is spoiled or squandered before it is consumed by people."" (FAO, 2018) Food loss and waste not only impact the consumer's […]

Food Wastage – Global Environmental Problem

Food wastage is a global problem that many nations mainly the developed nations are dealing with. From statistics provided in the US, it is clear that more than 35 million tons of food goes to waste every year in the US which is taken to the landfills. This means that on average, every family in the US $1,600 to $2,000 each year to food that is purchased but not eaten which is basically enough to feed a family of four. […]

Who is Actually the Biggest Fan of your Food Waste?

Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is a microbially mediated process by which organic matter (agricultural residues, food wastes, manure, etc.) is turned into biogas and biofertilizer in conditions that require the absence of oxygen (anoxic environment) (Kelleher et al., 2002). The advantages of this kind of waste decomposition over traditional waste management are obvious: low energy requirement, potential energy recovery, reduction of greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere, etc. However, because of the complexity of the AD process and poor knowledge of […]

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Essay Samples on Food

The subject of food becomes even more important as the world is going through turbulent times and armed conflicts. Even when the times are relatively calm, there are complex aspects like logistics, supply chain management, and accessibility of food in remote areas. If you are not sure what essays on food might be about, do not hurry to focus on consumption and delivery because you can also turn to historical subjects or explore the culture of food as an option. To save yourself time and effort, consider checking our free food essay examples. These will provide you with an extensive list that you should check before you start writing. It’s always good to explore more than one paper as you compare the writing approach and determine what tone has been used. Some examples will include the culture of fast food and the use of various diets. It’s quite challenging unless you see how it has been narrowed down because it is easy to get lost in the myriad of subjects. Do not forget to provide statistical information and add a personal touch after each citation that you use! It will help you to support your arguments and avoid plagiarism risks.

Why Is Fast Food So Popular: A Multifaceted Appeal

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Why Fast Food Should Be Banned: Overview of the Arguments in the Debate

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Cause and Effect of Fast Food: the Impact on Health and Society

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This paper studies the factors favouring the growth of the Indian retail wine Industry in Mumbai. With the rapid increase in wine consumption amongst the 20-30 year-olds due to high disposable incomes and enhanced lifestyles, wine is seen to be gradually moving away from the...

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The Evolution of Beer in Egypt and Mesopotamia

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Genetically Modified Organisms As a Part Of Our Life

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You Are What You Eat: What Will Come To Our Plate

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Cognitive Decline and Diet: Influence of Western Diet

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The Biggest Threat to the Human Population: Food Security

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Developing the Habit of Eating Fast Food

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• Eating Disorders

Consume Carcinogens and Mutagens Such as Caffeine

Every day we are exposed to and even consume carcinogens and mutagens such as caffeine, UV radiation, industrial pollutants, pesticides, food additives, and natural substances such as tobacco. Caffeine is known to be mutagenic to bacteria and fungi and can be mutagenic to mammalian cells...

Breakfast Catering Service In Brunswick

Eat breakfast sort of a king, lunch sort of a prince, and dinner sort of a beggar. This old-age adage just shows how important it's to possess an enormous and hearty breakfast. It is your first meal for the day, and it'll provide you with...

If Caffeine Contains the Properties of a Mutagen

Many common products, like preserved foods, cleaning agents, and vehicle airbags, contain known mutagens that are hazardous to humans. Caffeine is present in coffee and energy drinks, beverages consumed on an everyday basis by many people. It is important to recognize how interactions with these...

Everyone’s Favourite Fast Food - the Hamburger

Craving fast food? Well, there’s nothing more appetizing than a juicy, cheesy hamburger to calm the rumbling in your stomach. Hamburgers have carved a special place in everyone’s hearts irrespective of their age. Teenagers and young adults were mesmerized by this delicacy-turned-fast food when they...

How to Switch to Healthy Food and Snacks

There are actually so many reasons why we should switch to healthy food that you will wonder why you have not yet done this already a long time ago. It all starts with the fact that being healthy should be everyone’s priority, which means that...

Non-dependent Parental Alcohol Misuse Impact

This study had limitations which may have affected the findings. Future research should take account of these limitations. Firstly, this study had a cross-sectional design, therefore causality between the significant associations such as parental alcohol misuse and MHS cannot be inferred, and a temporal relationship...

Mineral And Water Functions In Water Consumption

Some specialized doctors recommend consuming cold water, especially after physical exertion, because it regulates body temperature. There are other doctors who argue that cold water consumption forces the body to expend energy to warm itself, and that this results in the immediate loss of the...

• Digestive System

Junk Food: Why The Government Shouldn’t Regulate A Person’s Intake Of Unhealthy Foods

Health is an important factor that influences our everyday lives. The way in which we care for our bodies affects how our future wellbeing can and will play out for the rest of our lives. For example, if someone is careful with what they eat...

Eat To Live Or Live To Eat: Incorporating Healthy Eating Habits

Incorporating a healthy lifestyle in my life by choosing to make better food choices and exercising consistently and whole heartedly can be a major factor in increasing my life span for the future. By choosing to live a healthier lifestyle I hope to live longer...

Considering If Genetically Modified Food Should Be Banned

Introduction Transgenic, or genetically modified (GMO) plants are plants who‘s DNA has been genetically modified using various methods. Original method used for adding or removing genes include gene guns, electroporation, agrobacterium and microinjections. Newer methods, such as CRISPR and TALEN are more precise and convenient,...

The Necessity Of Genetically Modified To Be Banned

What is a GMO? According to Stevie Shepard, the science writer for BBC Good Food, a GMO is “any living thing that’s had its DNA altered using genetic engineering”. He says that genetic alteration is used to give an organism a “desirable trait”. He gives...

Animal Eating: To Eat To Live Or Live To Eat

Eating is one way that can deepen relationships from friendships to romances and so much more. But eating can signal a devotion to a culture, religion or lifestyle choice based on what animals we eat (Thames, 2018). Many believe that animals should not be eaten...

• Importance of Food

Underage Drinking And The Effects On The Body

Alcohol is a toxin that alters your brain's frontal lobe which is responsible for decision making and many more important tasks. Alcohol is also responsible for creating numerous health problems like heart disease, Liver disease, and an increased chance of getting Alzheimer's at an older...

• Underage Drinking

Why War On Drugs Doesn't Make That Much Sence Nowadays

Drugs have been utilized for a tremendous number of years, and have been constrained for under 1% of that time. The present War on Drugs has effectively affected society financially and socially. The remedy anticipation endeavors have had little impact on the stockpile of unlawful...

• Drug Addiction
• War on Drugs

The Problem Of Underage Drinking Among Teenagers

Teenagers tend to be peer pressured into experimenting with drugs or alcohol because they want to seem “cool” or to “fit in”. Unfortunately, Teenagers don’t see the consequences that could occur because of drinking or doing any type of drug. The only issue students and...

Vegetarianism: Meat Eating Versus Nutrition

Vegetarianism may seem like a popular diet fad, but it has been advocated by many cultures around the world. Restaurants advertising “vegetarian options” on their menu is becoming customary. Vegetarianism is a dietary choice, to abstain from meat, that people adopt for many reasons. There...

• Vegetarianism

Organic Vs. Conventional Food: Usage Of Fertilizers In Farming

Several years ago, people used organic fertilizers to cultivate fruits and vegetables in their environment, depending not on the size of the plant, but on its flavor and valuable qualities. Furthermore, the Industrial Revolution supplied farmers with viable means of pest management, development boosters, and...

• Organic Farming
• Organic Food

The Need To Change Eating Junk Food To Healthy Food

How often do you eat junk food? Do you know exactly what you’re eating? Most junk food companies use artificial ingredients in their snacks or foods, this can cause multiple health problems for people later on in their lives. This is just one of the...

Problem Solving Ability And Adjustment In Relation To Vegetarian And Non Vegetarian

Introduction Adolescence is considered as a nutritionally critical period of life for several reasons. Firstly, manifold increase in physical growth and development put greater pressure on the need for nutrients. Secondly, adolescence can be the second opportunity to catch up with growth, if nutrient intake...

The Pros Of Home Cooking As Compared To Fast Food

There is only so much time in the world, people are constantly busy and in a rush. Busy with work, school and other extra activities. Who has time to cook nowadays? Families are constantly going out to eat at restaurants and fast food places rather...

An Attempt To End Obesity With Junk And Healthy Food

In an article published by The Atlantic magazine David H Freedman poses the statement “How junk food can end obesity.” the article focuses on how the media, and Health Food enthusiasts have been demonizing industrialized, and processed foods. When I came across David’s article, the...

Vegetarianism And Practice Of Not Eating Meat

Why would anyone consider becoming a vegetarian? Is a vegetarian diet healthier, or are there too many risks? The article, “Vegetarian Diets: Health Benefits and Associated Risks” by Navneet Kumar Kaushik, Anup Aggarwal, Mohita Singh, Shelja Deswal, and Priyanka Kaushik discusses the popularity in recent...

The Values Of Organic Food Over Genetically Modified Conventional Food

First, organic food has more values for human bodies, as it’s play more important edge in lifestyle of sportive man. So, organic food makes your brain fresher healthier and it’s gone back in your brain function. In addition to that, it’s rechange the molecular of...

Organic Food Is Better Than Non Gmo Food

The distinctions between GMOs, non-GMOs and organic food labels are essential to understand. There are more agricultural products on the market as 'non-GMOs' and many of us may not even know the difference. You may have wonder why non-GMO foods are not the same as...

Home Cooked Meals Vs. Fast Food: Comparing Nutritious Benefits

Nowadays many people of all ages are becoming more obese simply because they choose to take the easier route when it comes to their appetite; however, the easier route may not be the one that’s healthiest. The vast majority are not cooking as much, which...

The Consumption Of Non Organic Food Versus Organic Food

Is consuming non-organic food worth your health or our pocket? Non-organic Food that fulfill your consumption and nutrition. With the increasing population of world, the demand for food is higher than ever. Non-organic is when synthetic chemicals are used on the crop or product to...

Organic Ginger Powder And Its Therapeutic Characteristics

Organic ginger powder is sourced from dried ginger roots (Zingiber officinale). The organic powder has multiple applications which range from health and wellness to culinary ones. The powder contains plenty of antioxidants as well as anti-inflammatory compounds. The earliest use of the powder can be...

• Herbal Medicine

Health Benefits Of Ginger Consumption

Ginger is almost one of the ordinary ingredient in most of the cooking and many other items and it is in it for good for welfare of ginger are almost countless in change of state as well as medically ginger has been used in medically...

Review Of Eric Schlosser Book Fast Food Nation: How Fast Food Chains Poison Us

Eric Schlosser builds his ethos by not only describing the various fast food chains that are involved in almost all aspects of society but by describing the effect that this has on the American people and the American economy as a whole. By delving into...

My Experience Of Savoring Traditional Guatemalan Breakfast During The Family Visit

The last Sunday morning before I came to MSU my family and I decided to get together for breakfast. Since it was one of the last days that I was going to be in Guatemala we decided to make the traditional Guatemalan breakfast, the “Desayuno...

• Cultural Identity

Analysis Of The Company Ethics Of Mcdonald's And How The Company Slowly Kills People

Obesity has been a global concern in the United States for quite some time now. However, there has been a significant amount of marketing and promoting the consumption of unhealthy food and drink products. In most cases, marketing of these products is targeted at younger...

Formulation Development And Nutritional Analysis Of Breakfast Cereals

The usual breakfast meal of every household worldwide mainly consists of traditional cereals and millets. Both of these two are chief carbohydrate sources and hence are the main calorie provider. They also provide substantial amount of protein, minerals and vitamins (FAO 2002). Traditional cereals such...

Artificial Intelligence Application In Poultry Industry

Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as computer systems replicating human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making and translation between languages. At a simplistic level, predictive modelling such as that used in feed formulation might be a form of artificial intelligence, but the use...

• Artificial Intelligence

Story Of My Food Aversion Towards Bivalves

It was a gloomy afternoon and exactly fifteen years ago when I had my worst nightmare, and I had to say “bye!” to the bivalves. My great dislikes in bivalves started with a single mussel and as time passed by, I eventually disliked the sight...

Types Of Spices Used In Indian Cuisine

What are Indian spices ? Asnwer to this question is that the Indian spices are the heart of Indian cuisine and they are the only element which provide taste to the food. India is blessed with number of the spices like red chili, salt, turmeric...

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (haccp) In Nutritional Installation

The hospital is an organized place in providing health services to patients, both basic, specialistic and subspecialistic.[1] One of the hospital facilities and infrastructure that must exist is a Nutrition Installation. Nutritional installation is used in the process of handling patients' food and drinks which...

• Food Safety

Analysis Of The Fast Food Industry In India And Challenges It Faces

Literature review The economic growth of a country Comes along with the increasing spending capacity of the citizen. The leisure time in India is mostly spent on dining out with friends and families and fast food are the most favorite option of Indian while they...

Reasons Behind American Fixation On Unhealthy Food

On the off chance that you drive on any roadway in the United States, you'll discover drive-through eateries at each exit and administration region. On the off chance that you stroll through any market, you'll see arranged nourishments that state 'make it in minutes' and...

Positive And Negative Impacts Of Chewing Gum On The Planet Earth

The planet is filled with diverse matter. Everything that is on Earth has an origin. Throughout time Earth has evolved and soon later organisms have evolved from it. Even humans can create a story for anything, for example chewing gum. Chewing gum is gum that...

Market Selection With Justification And Opportunity Statement For Baiada Poultry

The purpose of this study is to shed light on describing the market opportunities can be faced by the company while entering in the UK market. In the market opportunity analysis process, the study has highlighted the position of the competitors and those operational impacts...

• Marketing Plan
• Marketing Research

The Role Of Learning Theories In Forming Food Preferences

Discuss the role of learning theories in the development of eating preferences Learning theories help us understand actions and are important in one’s life in building personality and grooming. In my assignment I will be discussing each theory and elaborate each one of it with...

• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning

History of Wendy’s: Analysis of the Dave’s Single Advertisement

Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. The company moved its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio. on January 29, 2006. The chain is known for its square hamburgers, sea salt fries, and their...

• Advertising

Deadly Consequences Of Sugar And Glucose Epidemic In The United States

Questions Obesity rate in the United States have been increased since the past 20 years because of the amount of food we eat which contains a lot of sugar. In addition to the obesity rate, studies have shown a connection between to large amounts of...

• High Fructose Corn Syrup

Understanding The Next Epidemic In North America: Lactose Intolerance

The two main animals that North Americans receive their milk from are either cows and goats, and yet, within the past five years, the rise of almond, soy, oat, and coconut milk have become the most popular versions of milk in our society. Most often,...

• Lactose Intolerance

Health Benefits Of Durian And Types Of The Most Controversial Fruit Ever

Introduction Introductory Remark Durian is the native fruit in South-eastern Asia and known as the 'king of fruits'. Durian has a distinct large size, unique and strong odour and hard thorn-covered husk. Different people have different thoughts about durian, some may think that durian has...

Origins of Sushi and How They Evolved Throughout the Years

In today’s day and age food has become a major topic when it comes to trends and social media. Social media models travel the world and explore new cuisines and post them on their social media accounts. That influences the rest of modern society to...

• Japanese Food Culture

My Future Journey to the Goal to Become a Pastry Chef

My name is Chinelle Ann Hooper; I am a student at New York City College of Technology, completing a Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management. My primary purpose and motivation to earn a bachelor’s degree is to pursue a career as a pastry chef and eventually...

• Career Goals
• Pastry Chef
• Personal Goals

Ethics in the Food Industry-Dairy Farming

Introduction A dairy is a business enterprise which is established for harvesting or processing of animal milk – from cows or goats, and also from buffaloes, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. The word dairy refers to milk-based products, derivatives and processes, and...

• Animal Ethics

"Indian Horse" Novel Analysis: the Role of Alcohol in Saul's Life

Alcohol is a drink which causes a person to lose his consciousness. Reading the novel Indian Horse, Richard Wagamese narrates how Saul resorts to alcohol in order to escape the reality he has been living in. Now the question arises what causes Saul to turn...

• Indian Horse

History of Rice and the Benefits of Rice Cultivation in Australia

Rice has become a very important food source for millions of people since the realization of its potential in 2800 BC until now. It has provided those with nothing to make a living selling and growing rice while also providing a stable food source for...

The Issue of Excessive College Drinking and Drinking Age in US

During the freshman year of college, students are more prone to stepping outside of their comfort zone, and experience new opportunities. Entering a new environment, without any parental supervision, encourages these students to branch out even more, and partake in activities that most parents would...

• Drinking Age in America

Reaping the Health Advantages of Lemon Water

Lemons square measure healthy. Most people associate lemons with vitamin C, however that’s not all they need to supply. They’re low in sugar and per the USDA National Nutrient info, contain everything from adermin, vitamin A, vitamin E, folate, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and B complex...

The Imperial Sugar Plant Explosion and Its Effect on Sugar Industry

On February 7, 2008, at around 7:00 pm, an Imperial Sugar Plant exploded and went up in flames at Port Wentworth, GA. There were many reasons as to how it exploded. One of the main reasons was the poor maintenance of the plant itself. The...

• Problem Solving
• Sugar Trade

The Nutritious and Diet-Friendly Formulation of Breakfast Cereals

Yeu et.al. (2008) studies shown the beneficial effects of soy and high-protein diets on weight loss and also claim dipping the risk of cardiovascular diseases. 4 formulations with soy meal content of 41, 47, 54 and 60% (w/w) were processed by extrusion and flavored with...

Effects of Ginger on LDL-Cholestrol, Total Cholestrol and Body Weight

Abstract Hyperolestrolemia (one type of hyperlipidemia), due to high level of LDL (bad) cholestrol in the blood, inreases the deposition of fats in arteries and cause coronary artery disease. This condition can be prevented or treated by allopathic drugs but they can develop severe side...

• Weight Loss

The Harsh Truth of the Fast Food Industry in Fast Food Nation

Eric Schlosser in the book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal exposes the inconvenient truth that what we are putting in our mouth has a dark story behind it. This book informs readers about how fast food has completely infiltrated our...

The Perfect Agenda for Single People on the Valentine's Day

All lonely women: He returned. Good V word. When a terrible day draws near, we are all surrounded by Valentine's Day attributes. The sweet Hallmark cards make us laugh; The heart shaped chocolate box gives us evil and constantly reminds us that we must be...

• Valentines Day

Cleaning Solutions to Get Rid of Chewing Gum

If you have a gum attached to the sofa, either fabric or leather, you must first take into account the material of your furniture, so you can then perform the proper procedure and thus be able to remove the gum without damaging the surface. We...

The Environmental Impact of Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Chewing Gum Producer

Mars Wrigley Confectionery is a global leader in the manufacture of chewing gum, confections and chocolates. The main manufacturer, Mars Inc. bought Wrigley in 2008 for $23 billion. It is the manufacturer of popular chewing gum brands like PK, Juicy Fruit, Double-mint, Orbit and Big...

The Impossible Burger as the Staple of Vegan Food

The growing popularity of vegan food has become an apparent currency in cultural exchange in the US. Los Angeles isn’t just all about Hollywood glitz and glamor, it’s also all about the healthy and plant-based lifestyle. Eating healthy and cleansing oneself from meat, fried food,...

Burger and Other Nostalgia Food of the People

There are certain foods that trigger nostalgia and bring back memories from our past. Famous chefs and food influencers who have a strong relationship with food have one thing in common: the nostalgia connected to the first moment they fell in love with food. It’s...

Statistics on Death Associated with Alcohol and How to Recover from Alcohol Abuse

If we have a tendency to take a glance at the statistics place along by the workplace of National Statistics, we discover that alcohol statistics may be quite shuddery. Since the 1990's there has been Associate in Nursing constant rise within the quantity of alcohol...

• Death Rates

Rice Shortage in Philippines and the Rice Importation Controversy

Although the our country is an agricultural-based with rice as its main crop, we still import rice from other countries than consuming the harvest of the Filipino farmers, the country almost relies on Rice Importation even though we can increase the rice production in our...

• Food Shortage
• Philippines

Nuances of Food Preparation for Astronauts

Summary Astronauts do not only rely on food for their physical well being. Food provides emotional benefits and can lessen the psychological effects of being in space for extended periods of time. However, food on the International Space Station must be specifically prepared for space...

• Space Exploration

Healthy Junk Food Substitutes: An Opened Door to Healthier Food in Future

According to Dictionary.com, Junk food is defined as a substance that is appealing and is energy dense, but does not offer much nutritional value (Junk Food, N). Junk food often has substances that scientists create to mimic the way products like Sugar taste. This process...

Link Between the Beverage Consumption and Body Fat in U.S Children

Abstract Soft drinks have become a major contribution to obesity and other health related problems in America. The soft drink epidemic provides many calories with added sugar. it has been linked to overall diet quality and meeting nutrient requirements. Additional eighty-five empty calories or five...

Why High Fructose Corn Syrup Is the One to Blame for Unhealthy American Diet

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there will be a higher amount of Americans that will die of diseases related to obesity than there will be Americans who will starve to death (CDC, 2019). This is a major issue. Processed foods have overtaken...

The Impact of Sweets on Dr. Pepper Industry

Sweets have a huge impact on various industries, not just the dessert and culinary industry. Sugar has become a duplicitous agent in several parts of the world and is an active ingredient in anything and everything we eat. From sweet treats to savory meals, sugar...

Mistake That One Should Avoid During Baking

Spell baking can be a great deal of fun, it likewise needs one serious part of accuracy and meticulousness. Commit one modest error or miss one little fixing and you can wager everything that the dish will be a debacle. I have dependably said that...

Traditional Cuisine of the Carribeans, Southern India and Northern France

One of the most important aspects of any culture is food. The reason why traditional cuisine is passed from one generation to another is to preserve the food culture and also express the cultural identity. When one’s traditional food is frequently cooked, there is a...

BreadTalk Company History: Providing Staple Food to Many

Established in April 2000, BreadTalk started up Singapore's customary pastry kitchen industry with an interesting situating: it was anticipated as an expertly run business; its stores were situated in the significant shopping centers in focal pieces of Singapore; the kitchens were open arrangement so clients...

• Cost Benefit

Composite Bread Fruit-Sweet Potato Flour Substitution In Bread Production

Introduction Breadfruit and sweet potato are Traditional staples consumed in the Caribbean region. These traditional staples are particularly appealing to the region not only because of their nutritional and caloric value and contribution to livelihood systems, but also because of their adaptability to a wide...

Origin and Domestication of Yellow Corn and Bread Making

The starting place and growing of yellow corn has been a problem in evolution; even though maximum scientists accept as true with the crop originated from Mexico, other scientists have additionally proposed multiple- origins of the crop; based totally on studies on chromosome knob positions...

Best topics on Food

1. Why Is Fast Food So Popular: A Multifaceted Appeal

2. Why Fast Food Should Be Banned: Overview of the Arguments in the Debate

3. The Importance of Healthy Food for Students

4. Cause and Effect of Fast Food: the Impact on Health and Society

5. Indian Retail Wine Industry: Opportunity for Growth and Development

6. The Truth About Genetically Modified Food: Pros and Cons

7. Understanding the Relationship between Aging and Appetite

8. The Evolution of Beer in Egypt and Mesopotamia

9. Genetically Modified Organisms As a Part Of Our Life

10. You Are What You Eat: What Will Come To Our Plate

11. Chickens Artificially Hatching: Statistics and Main Hatchers

12. Cognitive Decline and Diet: Influence of Western Diet

13. Multiple Types of Food Additives

14. The Biggest Threat to the Human Population: Food Security

15. Developing the Habit of Eating Fast Food

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447 Food Essay Topics & Research Questions to Write about

Are you looking for good topics about food? Luckily, there are so many food topics you can research! You can focus on food safety, the link between nutrition and health, food insecurity, national cuisines, food waste in supply chains, food processing technologies, and many more. Check this list of the most exciting food research questions and titles!

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• Causes and Effects of Fast Food: Essay Example
• Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of the Food and Beverage Industry
• Eating Home-Cooked Food Is Essential
• The Negative Effects of Fast Food: Essay Example
• Food Technology Importance in Modern Days
• Sustainable Food Systems, Nutrition
• Target Audience of Fast Food Restaurants’ Web Sites
• Kenya, Its Tourist Attractions and Food Culture Kenya is one of the most beautiful African countries I have ever been. I am always thrilled to visit it. However, it has taken some time since I was there.
• Italy’s Food: Traditional Italian Food Recipes Italian cuisine is famous around the world for its delicious and healthy food. It includes thousands of varieties of recipes for different dishes with various ingredients.
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Biotechnology in Improving the Nutritive Value of Foods In this essay, the author explores the advantages and disadvantages of biotechnology with an emphasis on benefits and potential harm to mankind.
• Food Waste Management The paper aims at explaining the issue of food waste and describing approaches to the reduction of this problem.
• Food Shortage Situation Overview The connections and relationship between population and food shortage transcend all areas of human life and as such encompasses various aspects of demands that support human life.
• Causes and Effects of Fast-Food Addiction Studies show that those who frequently eat fast food have an increased risk of progressing from simple consumption to addiction.
• The Food Prices Issue and Its Impacts on the Industry The challenge of increasing food prices is relevant to the culinary, hospitality, and food industries because it significantly affects food availability and quality.
• Healthy Multicultural Food: Product SWOT Analysis The chosen product is healthy multicultural food, which should be provided to the customers of Active Retirement nursing home.
• Food Truck Market Analysis Example Food truck business has high chances of becoming popular because food industry is one of the kinds of businesses that never go out of fashion.
• Unhealthy Food Culture and Obesity Unhealthy food culture plays a significant role in developing health-related diseases, including its contribution to obesity.
• Fast-Food Restaurants’ Popularity and Its Causes Majority of people in the United States have resorted to fast food restaurants, especially college students who are of the view that these restaurants save a lot of time.
• Food Truck Business Strategy, Resources, Management The paper describes the food truck business’s goals and objectives, management functions, decision-making process, organizational structure, etc.
• Food in Korean Culture: Describing Korean Cuisine Korean citizens believe that food has medicinal properties that improve a person’s emotional, psychological, and mental well-being.
• McDonald’s and Its Decline & Crisis Due to the Healthy Food Trend The trend for healthy eating was born not so long ago but continues to cover more and more segments of the population around the world.
• Indian Culture Examined Through Street Food A fondness of India’s rich culture, combined with a desire to innovate and adapt with the times are all present in the Curry Up Now restaurant and Indian street food as a whole.
• Food Additives There are three types of food additives, cosmetic food additives, preservatives and the processing aids of food.
• Food Security: The Impact of Climate Change Since climate change affects the natural world, it is evident that it poses particular challenges for food security in the future.
• The “Food Inc.” Documentary by Robert Kenner In his film “Food Inc.”, documentary film producer Robert Kenner explores how massive businesses have monopolized every part of the food supply chain in the United States.
• Fast-Food Industry’s Market Place and Environment The fast-food industry is experiencing a revenue of over $15 billion growth a year, and the future growth rate at an average of 2.7%.
• History of Ketchup and Its Role in Foods Tomato ketchup is a popular addition to a variety of dishes which acts as a sauce and goes well with all food.
• Food and Drink Industry’s Innovation and Barriers The paper provides the reasons that influence the need to innovate in the industry and the barriers that stop innovation from taking place.
• Right to Food as a Fundamental Right Right to food is an important human right issue today. Advocates for the right to food use the phrase “Food first” to show the importance of availability to food above other priorities.
• Food Safety Issues in Modern Agriculture According to the United Nations Asian and Pacific Center for Agricultural Engineering and Machinery, an upsurge in international trade on agricultural products has made food safety a major concern.
• Healthy Food: the Impact of the Vegetarian Diet In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards vegetarianism in societal dietary choices. In the modern world, vegetarians can uphold the nutritional needs of the body.
• Food Science: How to Make Butter Fresh milk is made up of a combination of milk and cream; since the cream is less thick than the milk, it separates and rises to the top, where it may be scrapped.
• Food Processing: Principles and Controversies Food processing is a currently applied trend to turn fresh food into different food products through such methods as washing, pasteurizing, freezing, cooking, or packaging.
• Role of Food in Marquez’ “One Hundred Years of Solitude“ and Esquivel’s “Like Water for Chocolate” Laura Esquivel was born and raised in Mexico and may have written this novel with the hope of portraying to her readers some Spanish background and history.
• Food Service Facilities Design: Food Preparation The food service facility design in a mall in Singapore is based on providing customers with various dining options, including fast food, and casual dining.
• Food Culture: Doughnut’s History, Marketing and Sociology A doughnut, or as it is often called donut, is a kind of fried dough baked or pastry meal. The doughnut has become well-known and beloved in numerous countries and cooked in an assorted model.
• Food Safety and Hazards Manufacturers are obligated to maintain safe control measures to ensure products are fit for human consumption.
• Aspects of Muslim Food Culture Islam has many rules related to food. One of the most significant rules in Islam is the restriction on the consumption of pork.
• McDonald’s: The Most Popular Fast-Food Restaurant McDonald’s is one of the most popular fast-food restaurants, and its success is defined by compliance with the needs of the present-day business world.
• Wendy’s Fast Food Franchise in the Chinese Market Because of the strong presence that KFC and McDonald’s already have in the Chinese market, firms such as Wendy’s have to design a unique product.
• Food Poisoning Case at Air China Flight On October 6, 2013, nearly 50 passengers on an Air China flight that was bound for Beijing fell ill with symptoms such as vomiting, stomachaches and diarrhea.
• Discussion of Food Safety Issues The paper discusses food tampering and bioterrorism are those issues that can result in fundamental problems in food safety area.
• The Six Major Elements of a Food Safety Plan (FSP) A Food Safety Plan (FSP) is a way that identifies and prevents safety hazards from occurring during and after food production, this paper is going to discuss FSP’s major elements.
• Super Greens Organic Food Restaurant’s Business Plan ‘Super Greens’ restaurant is a new medium-sized restaurant to be located in a busy locality of Westminster in the neighbourhood of some aristocratic areas.
• McDonalds Fast Food Company Organizational Change This paper attempts to explicitly review the successful implementation of the proposed change that involves improving the performance of the McDonalds Company and enhancing its customer focus.
• Nutrients in Different Food Groups The essay explains the variety of nutrients in different food groups, the reasons for these variations, and the health benefits associated with the nutrients.
• Nutrients: The Distribution in the Food Groups This essay associates nutrients to their specific food groups justify their nutritional composition and explains their significance.

Want to know how to choose a suitable food topic for your essay or research paper? Here are a few suggestions:

• Pick a topic you’re interested in. It’ll make the writing process and the resulting paper more fun and engaging.
• Consider the scope of your topic. Avoid making your research theme too narrow or too general.
• Select a topic that meets the requirements. It’s best to double-check and ask your instructor whether your topic is appropriate.

Here are some promising areas of research you can consider:

• Food safety focuses on practices that help preserve edibles and prevent contamination or food-borne illnesses.
• Agriculture deals with plant and animal crop production. Its goal is to increase the volume and quality of produce.
• Food additives are substances that are added to food to embellish its flavor and appearance. They are an increasing concern when it comes to health risks.
• Food culture refers to food-related beliefs and practices in different regions. It’s also concerned with the network around food production and consumption.
• Food science is a branch that uses knowledge of biology and chemistry to ensure the safety of foodstuffs.
• Are Fast Food Restaurants to Blame for Obesity?
• Are Genetically Modified Food Safe for Consumption?
• Are the Nutrition Charts on Food Packages Accurate?
• What Are Issues on Food Around the World?
• What Is It Called When You Have Food Issues?
• Are You Harming Your Family by the Food You Are Preparing?
• Can Organic Farmers Produce Enough Food to Feed the World?
• What Are the Six Major Threats to Food Security?
• What Are the Four Major Problems That Affect the World’s Food Needs?
• Could Biotechnology Solve Food Shortage Problem?
• Does Dehydration Reduce the Nutrient Value in Quality of the Food?
• What Are Some Challenges to Food Production?
• Does Fast Food Have a Possible Connection With Obesity?
• How Can We Solve Food Supply Problems?
• How Did Jollibee Build Its Position in the Philippine Fast Food Industry?
• What Are Four Issues Related to Food Production?
• How Does America Solve Food Deserts?
• What Are the Seven Challenges to Food Safety?
• How Does Whole Food Build Human and Social Capital?
• What Is the Most Important Food Safety Issue?
• Should Fast Food Advertising Be Banned?
• What Are the Six Food Borne Diseases?
• What Are the Ten Main Reasons for Food Poisoning?
• Should Fast Food Chains Be to Blame for Childhood Obesity?
• Should Fast Food Only Be Sold to People Eighteen and Older?
• Should New Zealand Allow Genetically Modified Food?
• Should People Abandon Their Favorite Food and Stay Healthy?
• What Are Three Causes of Food Contamination?
• Were the Salem Witch Trials Spurred by Food Poisoning?
• Chick-fil-A Fast-Food Network Brand Analysis Based on customer demographic data, the paper analyzes the Chick-fil-A fast-food network and compares some data to compile an accurate picture of people’s preferences.
• Indian Culture and Food in the Raaga Restaurant Before visiting Raaga, a restaurant of Indian cuisine, I tried to consider what I knew about this culture and whether I would eat what I would be served.
• Pet Food Product Marketing Strategy This paper outlines the marketing strategies that will be used for launching my pet food product: SWOT analysis, target market, market needs, and other market strategies.
• Evolution of Food Photography: From Daguerreotypes to Digital Storytelling Photos of food have been taken, shared, and appreciated for decades, from ambrosia salads in the 1970s to the current trend of upside-down acai bowls and elaborate latte art.
• The Food Choices Movie Analysis The main thesis of the movie, ‘Food Choices,’ is that a plant-based diet is the most nutritious, and people should not consume animal products.
• The Age of “Nutritionism”: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan Michael Pollan, an investigative journalist, wrote the book In Defense of Food to educate on what humans should consume to be healthy.
• A Problem of Food Waste and Its Solutions Food waste draws a lot of interest from global policymakers as well as various organizations and scholars – it continues to grow despite the looming resource depletion.
• “Maple Leaf Foods”: Company’s Issues and Their Management Maple Leaf Foods faces the issue of the lack of a sustainable vision due to poor leadership and contamination of products, adversely affecting consumers’ health.
• Financial Projections for Entrepreneurship in Food Industry Running a restaurant, especially in the area known for its high competition rates among the local food production companies, particularly, the fast food industries, is not an easy task.
• Fast Food Popularity in America: Cause and Effect The popularity of fast food affects Americans in many ways, but the threats of obesity, chronic diseases, and unstable immunity remain critical effects.
• Product Design in Food Industry: A McDonald’s Case Article Critique In “Product Design in Food Industry – A McDonald’s Case,” authors consider McDonald’s recent launch of new products along with some of the aspects of its production process and innovativeness.
• National Food Products Company: Marketing Segmentation NFPC has gained the reputation of a company that has been striving in the UAE market quite successfully by delivering essential products such as milk, water, plastic carriers.
• Food Truck Business’s SWOT Analysis The Food Truck company operates in the central business district of Portland, the area where the food delivery industry is very well developed.
• Food-Borne Salmonella Epidemiologic Triad Diseases emerging in the population do not occur randomly but usually have prerequisites and conditions for development.
• The Indigenous Food Sovereignty Concept The indigenous food sovereignty concept is broad in essence, and it perceives food as integrating all aspects of existence – mental, spiritual, cultural, and intellectual.
• Hospitality Management: Food and Beverage Management A person is preparing for their last high school exam and looking forward to a career in hospitality management, which is currently one of the best in the field.
• First in Show Pet Foods: Case Analysis First in Show Pet Foods is among the newest frozen dog food companies, which can be considered to be a first-mover in the given market.
• The Food Chain: Groups and Functions Producers, consumers, and decomposers are the three groups of organisms that comprise a food chain in an ecosystem.
• Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation” In the past 40 years, the world of fast food has penetrated even the remote areas of the American society. It was an industry, which had been started by a few hamburgers
• The Food Quality Impact on Economy and Health The problem of food quality and its impact on the economy and health of not only one country but the whole world cannot be overemphasized.
• The Consumer Attitude Towards Buying Organic Food in Hong Kong The aim of this research was to determine the factors that affect attitudes towards purchasing organic food in Hong Kong.
• Food Insecurity in the United States Food insecurity is one of the most pressing global problems that is also relevant for the United States today.
• The Environmental Impacts of the Food and Hospitality Industry The food wastage issue in the food and hospitality industry in Australia remains to be consciously considered as it may adversely affect the environment.
• Japan’s Food Patterns and Nutrition Habits The most commonly consumed foods among the Japanese people include sushi and sashimi, ramen, Tempura, Kare-raisu (curry rice), and okonomiyaki.
• Impact of Food Waste and Water Use on Earth The paper explores how food waste and water use affect the food system and how agriculture affects the environment.
• Indian Cuisine: Food and Socio-Cultural Aspects of Eating Many social and cultural aspects of Indian cuisine are different from American foods. In Indian culture, eating is a significant social occasion.
• Food Voice of the Bangladeshi Rice forms the core of the Bangladeshi eating patterns. It is consumed in large quantities across the country, being the base for many traditional dishes.
• Food and Family in the Hispanic Culture The notion of family is crucial to the Hispanic culture due to its encouraging idea of interdependence and belonging. The food became an integral part of family gatherings.
• Statistics on Food Disorders in the US and Puerto Rico The purpose of this paper is to analyze the statistics on food disorders in the United States, compare it with the situation in Puerto Rico, and suggest measures to tackle the problem.
• The Trends of Natural and Organic Foods Organic food is primarily intended to appeal to financially well-off people who can afford to spend more money on food in exchange for its perceived superior quality.
• Organic Food Market Trends Food retailers replaced farmers and whole food retailers as the main retailers of organic food. Higher production costs is the only factor to the higher organic food prices.
• Nutrition, Healthy Food Choice, and Nutritional Value of Fast Foods People’s choice for food is based on their specific perception and specific food need in the body as it may be prescribed by a medical doctor or a nutritionist.
• Availability of Healthy Food Food security and accessibility are now seen as ensuring that all members of society have physical and economic access to food that is safe.
• Food Sustainability Assessment Food sustainability is the ability to produce enough food to meet the current population’s needs without damaging the resources that future generations will need to survive.
• Food Behaviors Among Mexicans and South Americans People from diverse backgrounds eat different foods influenced by factors such as geographical location, religion, family values, and beliefs about health.
• The Issue of Food and Water Security The global issue for the analysis is food and water security. This is a topical problem nowadays, especially in light of climate change and population growth.
• Healthy Food Advertising: Nutrient Content Advertising is certainly a major driver for the success of a business. It is important to mention that healthy foods correlate with overall well-being, both physical and mental.
• McDonald’s Company: The Flawed Fast Food Tax McDonalds is one of the world’s leading fast food restaurants serving more than 57 million customers daily with branches all over the major cities.
• The Meat Inspection and Food Safety Issues The safety of the food that people consume must be carefully checked before it hits the shelves. However, the inspection only checks some pieces of meat that enter the stores.
• Factors Influencing Food Choices and Their Impact on Health Many people have access to various food options, while some are limited to the highly available and affordable unhealthy food choices.
• Should a hot dog be considered a sandwich? Everyone knows what a hot dog is on the surface. But do we truly comprehend its essence? What if a hot dog is actually a sandwich? This question has fueled discussion since this snack was first created in the 1860s.
• What is the best diet for human health? In the 21st century, people can’t stop worrying about their physical well-being. There are endless discussions about which diet is the healthiest—is it low-fat or Mediterranean? To develop a well-rounded position, we recommend checking the latest research on each diet’s pros and cons.
• What stops consumers from asking for a doggy bag in a restaurant? It has been proven that around 1/3 of global food is wasted. When people eat at home, they keep leftovers in the fridge, but how often do they ask to pack the leftover food when they dine out?
• Is it acceptable for owners to make their pets go vegan? Some vegans go as far as making sure their pets eat plant-based food only. This practice raises many questions regarding animal welfare, pet ownership, and nutrition.
• Should celebrities be banned from promoting quick-fix diet products? In the Internet era, big companies use famous faces to promote their brand on social media. This often includes advertising questionable products like diet pills, appetite suppressant candies, detox teas, etc. This practice may not be as harmless as it seems.

If you need a good idea for your argumentative essay, check out some food related topics to debate:

• Should fast food be regulated?
• Should GMO labeling be mandatory?
• Is there a need for stricter regulation of food advertising?
• The link between processed food and obesity.
• The role of meat consumption in climate change.
• The pros and cons in functional foods.
• Can cities become self-sufficient in food production?
• Why should we promote Meatless Mondays?
• Are food additives and preservatives evil?
• The impact of food packaging on plastic pollution.
• Solutions for Food and Water Security Issue With many nations encountering food and water security problems, the consequences of such events have become global, giving rise to multiple outcomes this insecurity.
• McDonald’s: How Strategic Choices Shape Fast Food Supremacy This paper will focus on McDonald’s corporation’s business and corporate-level strategies, competitive environment, and market cycles.
• Researching Food Service in Hospital Combining medical and gustatory qualities in hospital food is one of the most common difficulties in the healthcare sector worldwide.
• Agriculture and Food in Ancient Greece The paper states that agricultural practices and goods from Greece extended to neighboring countries in the Mediterranean as the dominance increased.
• Food and Drug Administration History The paper provides a brief introduction, background, and history of the FDA and the ways in which it operates, and the practices implemented.
• “Fast Food Nation” the Book by Eric Schlosser In his book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser argues that fast food has greatly influenced American society and culture.
• “The Future of Food” Documentary The documentary “The Future of Food” is shocking by the revelation of how food is made in America. This work describes two main issues that this film focuses on.
• Food Safety and Hygiene Practices This article provides an informative overview of food safety and hygiene practices, covering various aspects of the topic that are important to consider.
• Food Donation and Food Safety: Environmental Health Food safety is often taken for granted, with most people relying on basic practices and following essential hygiene standards without giving a second thought.
• Taiwanese Culture, Foods, and Tourism This paper provides a brief overview of Taiwan, including its location, culture, food, and tourism industry and its significant economic impact on the country.
• Food and Water Security Management The purpose of this article is to evaluate the current methodologies for addressing food and water security issues and propose sustainable solutions based on scholarly evidence.
• Sustainable Agriculture Against Food Insecurity The paper argues sustainable agriculture is one way to reduce food insecurity without harming the planet because the number of resources is currently decreasing.
• A Plan for Receiving and Handling of Food Products Based on HACCP HACCP system expects physical, biological, or chemical dangers selected and managed in a particular section of the process.
• Feasibility Plan for E-Commerce of Food Delivery The use of cell phone innovation can be viewed as one of the creative approaches to assist organizations in improving their business execution in the global market.
• The Use of Low Fat Food This short essay will demonstrate that many of the foods we are eating today are in reality not that low in fat as they claim.
• Advertising Promoting Organic Food and Beverages To turn the world more organic, one has to resort to using organic supplies. Creating ads on the way people can improve environmental conditions will change the position.
• Food Additives: Dangers and Health Impact Research shows that synthetic food additives have a negative human health and consumer dissatisfaction effect which calls for stricter regulation of their use in products.
• Fast Food Nation: Annotated Bibliography Zepeda’s Bad Choices in Our Food System book explores how the food system, including relevant policies in the US, influences consumer food choices.
• Powerade Food Myth Buster: Investigating Health Claims Powerade makes a statement on the bottle that it helps replenish four electrolytes lost in sweat. Powerade food myth buster aims to investigate its health claims from ingredients.
• Scientific Approach to Food Safety at Home The paper states that a scientific approach to handling, preparing, and storing food that explains how to prevent sickness is known as food safety.
• The Importance of Nutritional Labeling on Packaged Food It is essential to embrace nutritional labeling on packaged food, as they are meant to educate consumers about the products and their content.
• Human Geography: Food Insecurity The problem of food insecurity is a significant bother of humankind. Various international organizations were created to address the matter.
• The History of Soul Food Cuisine in the United States Soul food is the ethnic African-American cuisine traditionally cooked in the Southern United States. The term was invented in the mid-1960s.
• “Women, Food, and Learning” by Claudia Setzer Setzer comments on the issues of ethnicity and gender in her exploration of the Syrophoenician woman’s representation in the Bible.
• Working in a Food Pantry Hunger is a highly pervasive social problem around the globe. It is required that authorities all over design and implement policies that will solve the problem.
• Proposal for Providing Healthier Food Choices for Elementary Students This paper describes the necessity of having a properly balanced diet, and execute healthy exercising patterns in our routines, along with our children.
• Fast Foods Lead to Fast Death: Informative Speech The fast-food industry has expanded at a rapid pace during the past half-century. The consequence has been the rapid expansion of the nation’s collective waistline.
• Costly Healthy Food and State Policies The paper explains a problem of high prices for healthy food giving causes and outcomes, describing relations of costly healthy food and state policy and offering solutions.
• Granite City Food & Brewery Company’s Value Chain To have a unique brand, the Granite City Food & Brewery launched the Fermentus Interruptus brewing process, which was designed by the founder called Mr. Burdick Shawn.
• The Currency Devaluation Concept in the Food Industry Finances and exchange rates play a substantial role in the functioning of the international market while ensuring the circulations of goods and services.
• Whole Foods Market’s Strategic Position and Goals Whole Foods Market is an American company specialized in foods without artificial hydrogenated fats, colors, flavors, and sweeteners.
• Food Safety Issues and Public Health Nutrition Apart from food being essential for life, it has the potential of acting as a vehicle for pathogens that enter the body.
• Alaska Natives Diet: Traditional Food Habits and Adaptation of American Foodstuffs The Alaska Natives have retained their culture up-to-date in spite of their interactions with the wider American society.
• Genetically Modified Foods and Their Impact on Human Health Genetically modified food has become the subject of discussion. There are numerous benefits and risks tied to consumption of genetically modified foods.
• Food Deserts Control in the United States Food access is a major contributor to food deserts and is viewed as a consequence of several factors such as physical closeness to food supplies.
• The Food Truck Business Models Development This paper examines the following models for the food truck business: operating model, value model, service model, experience model, cost model, and revenue model.
• Amazon and Whole Foods Merger This paper studies the contribution that the acquisition of Whole Foods Amazon has made and what barriers the organization had to face in this process.
• The Use of Biodegradable Straws in Food and Beverages Business Plastic straw usage is part of the problem of plastic pollution and its adverse impact on the planet’s ecology. Nature is dying, and all new consequences of plastic are manifested.
• Junk Food Taxation in the United States This paper aims to study junk food taxation in the US, define the related problems, present solutions, and provide recommendations.
• Food and Cultural Appropriation Article by Cheung The article Cultural Appropriation by Helier Cheung focuses on the case of Lucky Lee restaurant, which started the discussion about the cultural appropriation of food.

Food science has only been gaining popularity in recent years. If you want to dabble in this research area, try any of the following topics:

• Food packaging: latest trends. In your paper, discuss how to improve food wrappers and boxes using nanotechnology. What makes it possible to preserve food for more extended periods and ensure its safety?
• Biotechnology’s basic principles. Look into how biology is used to create technologies and products that can improve people’s quality of life and the health of our planet.
• Advances in alternative protein. The research focuses on developing sustainable alternatives to conventional protein sources. It looks into plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived options.
• Design of fermented dairy goods. This topic has become even more relevant with the growing popularity of health-beneficial foods. It focuses on improving or maintaining dairy products’ quality and sensory properties.
• Microbiology and its role in food preservation. Here, you can research food safety regarding its contamination with pathogenic microorganisms. Explore all stages of food production and transportation until the consumer purchases the product.

Do you want to write a paper on the latest advancements in food science and technology? Here are some current food-related research topics to discuss:

• Potential health benefits of plant-based diets.
• Nanotechnology in food packaging.
• The application of 3D printing in the food industry.
• The benefits of bioprocessing of food waste.
• The impact of fermented foods on gut health.
• Current techniques for clean meat production.
• Food traceability: why does it matter?
• Alternative sweeteners as a sugar reduction strategy.
• Emerging trends in food packaging materials.
• The use of robotics in the food industry.
• Food and Agriculture of Ancient Greece The concepts of agriculture and cuisine both have a deep connection to Greek history, culture, development, and social trends.
• Food Safety Sanitation Requirements for a Child’s Health To maintain optimal diet and nutrition for a child’s health and welfare, emphasis must be made on sanitary criteria for food safety, storage, preparation, and food presentation.
• The Connection Between Food Choices, Identity, and Nationalism Korean nationalism in terms of food is different from that of American culture introduced by American fast food.
• Proper Food Rotation Overview This paper will focus on the benefits of proper rotation and the consequences of effectively rotating foods, including its health implications.
• Whole Foods Company’s Product Marketing in France Whole Foods can use different promotion strategies as it will be new to France. To make their product appealing to customers, they can offer coupons.
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Globalization The paper explains why the FDA has created a global strategy for fulfilling its mission and what are the costs and benefits to society of a more globalized food market.
• Food Deserts and Their Impact on Local Communities This paper aims to discuss the reasons that give rise to food deserts, analyze the adverse effects they have on people, and propose strategies to improve the situation.
• Whole Foods: An Organizational Needs Analysis Whole Foods is a large international supermarket chain that offers healthy, natural, and organic products. The organization’s mission is to extend its role to feeding the planet.
• A Typical American Dinner Plate: Origins of Food A plate with tater tots (fried potatoes), chicken wings, spinach soup, and a piece of watermelon for dessert would qualify as ideal in any American household.
• Logistics Network of the Food and Beverage Production Industry The purpose of this paper is to analyze waste management, lean principle application, value, costs, and performance within the food and beverage industry.
• Eating Fast Food and Obesity Correlation Analysis The proposed study will attempt to answer the question of what is the relationship between eating fast food and obesity, using correlation analysis.
• The Process of Food Poisoning in General This article focuses on food poisoning: briefly discusses pathogens and symptoms, referring to the article “Encyclopedia of Health – Diseases and Conditions”.
• Food Consumption: Enjoyment and Ethics Humans have constructed an intricate set of beliefs that help them to justify killing other creatures for their own consumption.
• TQM, Six Sigma and Product Liability in Perishable Food Industry This paper will examine on how economic, safety, legal and social responsibility, and how quality control system can be utilized to achieve the company goals.
• Fast Food Chain Locations, Non-Chain Restaurants and Bars As discussed in prior sections of the report, the competition for Moma Monaz can be distinguished into three categories: fast food chain locations, non-chain restaurants, and bars.
• The Importance of Variability in the Food Industry Diversity is a widely discussed concept these days. While, traditionally, the food industry was looking for universals, later, it started to lean more toward the idea of variability.
• America Express Charity Food Overview This paper analyses America Express (Amex) as regards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), vision, and mission statements.
• “Chinese Restaurant Food” : The Article Review The article ‘Chinese Restaurant Food’ educates the general public about the hidden dangers and harm of eating too much Chinese food.
• Business Within Society: Food Truck The business in this instance is a food truck that specializes in selling affordable yet clean meals to various workers in and around.
• Sociology of Food and Eating The challenge presented a menu that was repetitive and lacked variety. Since I had no other option, I had to consume the available food.
• Fast Food Harmful Effects on Children This paper states that the exposure of children to fast food early on has an adverse effect on them, resulting in the need to prevent the sale of fast food in schools.
• Food: National Identity and Cultural Difference This paper examines Ukrainian salo and Japanese sushi to verify if food’s actual taste and ingredients help understand the affiliated people’s mentality.
• Slow Food Movement in USA The Slow Food movement started in the middle of 1980s by C. Petrini as a protest against the fast food industry and the call for returning to the traditional healthy eating habits.
• What the Slow Food Movement Is Doing to Help the World With Food Insecurities The paper enlightens people on the origins of the Slow Food movement and how it has affected modern food, health care, and environmental sustainability.
• Food Habits and Acculturation of Immigrants With immigration waves and globalization, people from foreign countries integrate within the host culture, which is a process called acculturation.
• Food Insecurity’s Causes and Implications Food insecurity is a complex problem that affects the economy, demography, ecology, and many other areas of development of states and their societies.
• Effects of Climate Variability on Water Resources, Food Security, and Human Health Evaluating the effects of climate variability on water, food, and health will help identify the areas for improvement and offer solutions to current environmental challenges.
• Behavioral Reasoning Perspectives on Organic Food Purchase This study employs the theory of behavioral reasoning to explain the magnitude of the intent gap in the purchase of organic food by introducing causes.
• Technical Description of a Food Processor A food processor seems like one of those kitchen gadgets that, once owned, makes a person wonder how they ever survived without it.
• Fast-Food Expansion Strategy for Indian Market With the increasing globalization of the world economy and the fast-food industry, in particular, major fast-food chains continuously seek new markets to expand their operations.
• A Qualitative Study of Independent Fast-Food Vendors Near Secondary Schools “A qualitative study of independent fast-food vendors near secondary schools” primarily sought to explore and navigate the barriers toward offering healthier menu options.
• Healthier Cookie Version: The Challenges to the Food Industry A meal can enhance a healthy body development and, if not well censored, can result in health-related problems such as high blood pressure.
• How Do Fried Foods Affect Nutrition for Young Adults? An annotated bibliography on the topic how fried foods affect nutrition for young adults, the effect of television, the effect of dietary patterns on young adults’ health.
• Junk Food and Children’s Obesity Eating junk foods on a regular basis causes weight gain and for one in five Americans, obesity, is a major health concern though no one seems to be sounding the alarm.
• Firefly Burger Fast Food Marketing Plan The project aims to examine the internal and external environments that affect the success of Firefly restaurant and the need for changing its marketing strategy.
• The Effects of Food on ADHD The issue of ADHD and its relation to food has been a concern for a while. According to the outcomes of the study, the daily intake of food must be controlled in ADHD patients.
• Comfort Food as a Quarantine Trend Comfort food is a coping mechanism for many people in stressful situations, especially as serious as a global pandemic.
• Behavior-Based Safety in the Food Industry: DO IT Method The so-called DO IT method is useful when applied to jobs in the restaurant industry, leading to an improvement in the work behavior of employees.
• Competition in the Australian Food Industry: Case Analysis This article focuses on an analysis of the performance of Weight Watchers Comapny and Paradise Food Industries to identify the de facto leader in the health food market.
• How the Fast Food Industry Has Changed the Environment and the Health of American Society? More and more Americans eat fast food and since it is relatively inexpensive, tastes good and can be ordered and consumed quickly, fast food has become the national diet.

If you’re looking for persuasive topics about food to talk about, here are some suggestions for you:

• The benefits of eating organic foods.
• Fast food advertising to children should be banned.
• Food waste reduction is everyone’s responsibility.
• The importance of clear and informative food labels.
• The need for stricter regulation of junk food sales in schools.
• Why should the government impose a soda tax?
• The role of food companies in addressing childhood obesity.
• The impact of social media on eating behaviors.
• Home cooking is essential for health and family bonding.
• The role of food companies in addressing food allergies.

What Do Researchers Say about Fast Food?

Research has proven that consuming excessive fast food hurts nearly all organs of the human body. In the short term, it can affect a person’s blood sugar and increase inflammation. Fast food is also deficient in vital nutrients.

What Are the Major Problems of Eating Fast Foods?

Some of the long-term consequences of eating fast food are:

• type 2 diabetes,
• eating disorders,
• depression,
• digestive issues,
• fatty-liver disease,
• heart-related problems (high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, etc.)

Why Is American Fast Food So Unhealthy?

American fast food contains excessive sugar, salt, fats, processed ingredients, and preservatives. These components have devastating effects on human well-being, especially if consumed in excessive quantities. What makes it more detrimental is that an average American’s diet includes fewer fruits, veggies, dairy products, and oils than required.

What Are Common Criticisms of Fast Food?

The increasing popularity of fast food negatively affects people’s health and the ecology. It contributes to worker exploitation and animal cruelty. Overconsumption of fast food is also one of the culprits in cultural degradation since people’s eating patterns shift from traditional food.

How Is Fast Food Consumption Related to Obesity?

Overeating is the primary reason for obesity. Particularly, it leads to excessive calories being stored in the body. Processed foods are usually low in protein and high in carbohydrates and fats. Therefore, a person may need to consume more to satisfy their body’s appetite for protein.

• Time and Food: Chrononutrition & Night Eating
• Obesity Caused by Fast-Food as a Nursing Practice Issue
• Food in Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”
• Australian Consumers Strategies to Reduce Food Waste
• Global Food Supplies, Overpopulation and Pollution
• Chick-fil-A Inc.’s Entry into Qatari Food Industry
• Local Food Venture and Its Operations Management
• Drug-Drug and Food-Drug Interactions
• The Food Insecurity Action Center
• Sustainable Food Production: Cooking Chicken Breast
• Ecological Consumption in Terms of Food
• Global Trade: Food Price Indexes and Data Collection
• Food Waste Management Importance
• Canada’s Food Guide Discussion
• The American Diet Influenced by Fast Food Ads
• Food Deserts’ Impact on Children
• The Salmonella Bacterium as a Food Borne Illness Pathogen
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma Regarding Sources of Food
• Improper Food Handling Practices in Kansas City Restaurant
• The Food Insecurity Issue and Methods of Solving
• Food Ingredients: Molecular Reactions
• Food Preparation in Upper Paleolithic Ohalo II
• Agriculture, Water, and Food Security in Tanzania
• Food, Inc., Produced by Kenner Review
• Jewish Dietary Patterns: Kosher Food and New Meat
• Improper Food Handling Practices in Kansas City
• The Lack of Food Safety in Kansas City, Missouri
• Food Poisoning Caused by Staphylococcus Aureus
• Effects of Food-Medication Interplay on Recovery
• The Reaction to the “Food, Inc.” Documentary
• Food Insecurity Health Issue: How to Mitigate It
• Hazard Analysis in Food Safety
• The Challenges in Food Supply Chain During COVID-19
• Nike, Whole Foods, and Mcdonald’s: The Use of Information Systems
• Food Industry: The Safety Issues
• Food Insecurity in New York City
• Agriculture-Led Food Crops and Cash Crops in Tanzania
• Code of Ethics in Food Tracks Business
• Cause and Effect of Genetically Modified Food
• Food Security: Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
• Indian Culture and Food Supply
• Buffalo Skies Aki Forest Food Sovereignty Pilot Project
• Protecting Ourselves from Food Article by Sherman & Flaxman
• Food Deserts and Related Challenges
• The Baby Food Shortage: Public Service Announcement
• Examining Solutions for Mitigating the Food and Water Security Issue
• Restricting the Volume of Sale of Fast Foods and Genetically Modified Foods
• Agriculture and Food Safety in the United States
• Expanding Access to Food Interview Plan
• Liability of Death from Food Poisoning
• Food Labeling Affecting Sustainable Food Choices
• Analysis of Freeman’s Promotion of Junk Food
• Morals and Using Animals for Food
• Fast Food Addiction: Comparison of Articles
• Evaluation of Articles on Food and Water Security
• Food Administration on Sustainable Palm Oil
• Food Cost Issues in the Hospital
• Issues of Obesity and Food Addiction
• Global Societal Issue: Food and Water Security
• Addressing Food Insecurity in Wyandotte County
• Chinese Food in the United States
• Fortified and Aromatic Wines and Accompanying Food
• “Can You Be Addicted to Food?”: A New Problem Faced by North Americans
• The Connection Between Food Allergies and Gut Microbiome
• Food Facility Design: Sustainable Kitchen for Delight Restaurant
• Foreign Market Entry of Electronic Food Delivery Service in Nigeria
• Successful Institutional Food Management & Delivery Systems
• Food and Water Security as Globalization Issues
• Trade Peculiarities in Food and Agriculture
• Digitization in Improving the Food Supply Chain
• Climate Change and Food Production Cycle
• Discussion of Freedman’s Article “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”
• Food Deprivation in the United States
• “Fast Food Nation”: The Development of the Food Industry in the USA
• Healthy Food for Learning Achievements in School
• Introduction to Food: Macromolecules Analysis
• Discussion of Food Foraging History
• Aspects of Food Insecurity
• Botulism Prevention and Food Security Approaches
• Should Food Manufacturers Label All GMOs?
• “Food Stamped” and Its Main Shortcomings
• Discussion of Food Security Technologies
• Food Allergies and Eating Disorders
• Supply Chain Strategy for the Foods and Drinks Sector
• Organic Food Purchases Among Customers of Different Ages
• Food Security: Global Health Issue Comparison
• Are Food Manufactures Killing Us?
• A Community Mobile Food Truck to Serve Disadvantaged Children’s Needs
• The Class About Nutrition to Real Life Situations When Making Food Choices
• Food and Beverage Plan: The COVID-19 Pandemic Influence
• Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food
• Food Supplements in Preventing Long-Term Illnesses
• Personal Response About the Documentary “Food Inc.”
• Fast Food Restaurants in the US
• Fast-Food Marketing and Children’s Fast-Food Consumption
• Genetically Modified Foods: How Safe are they?
• Food, Health and Environment Relations
• The Home Food Environment and Obesity-Promoting Eating Behaviours
• Fast Food and Health Relations
• Genetically Modified Organisms in Human Food
• Nursing: Issue of Obesity, Impact of Food
• Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Amendment
• Ban on Genetically Modified Foods
• Obesity Treatment – More Than Food
• Fast-Food Industry’s Influences on Children
• Halal Food in Other Religions
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StudyCorgi. (2021, September 9). 447 Food Essay Topics & Research Questions to Write about. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/food-essay-topics/

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StudyCorgi . "447 Food Essay Topics & Research Questions to Write about." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/food-essay-topics/.

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• DOI: 10.17223/19988648/39/7
• Corpus ID: 133973386

THE RATING OF THE TOMSK OBLAST FOOD SELF-SUFFICIENCY LEVEL IN THE REGIONAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR AGRO-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

• R. Mansurov , Alina A. Zasedova
• Published 1 September 2017
• Agricultural and Food Sciences, Economics

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Food and Beverage Management Essay

A five star hotel is a place of luxury that incorporates all the facilities that you can think of from a golf field, swimming facilities, accommodation, food and beverage, to catering services (Wood 2000).

The food and beverage department is the heart of any hotel. The mission of the department is to provide food and beverage that meets highest standards so that they can keep a competitive edge in the hotel industry.

The department is managed by the food and beverage director who works hand in hand with his assistant. This department is divided into kitchen, catering, bar and stewarding sections where each section is run by its manager who is in charge of its operations.

To keep up with the competition in the hotel industry, a five star hotel has to adopt strategies that shall place it in a competitive edge above its rivals.

There are two generic strategies that can work for a five star hotel and they include differentiation and focus strategies (Washington 2005). In differentiation strategy, they can decide to produce pastries, cookies and beverages that are unique in taste and branded with the hotel name.

If this is done, then most of the guests to the five star hotel shall associate it with its facilities. On the other hand, a focus strategy shall give the hotel a class of its own.

They may focus on marketing their products and services abroad and to tourists given that the service charges for such visitors are high on the basis of their needs.

It is worth noting that, the food and beverage department works very closely with other departments such as those of finance and procurement. This is due to the fact that, the operating cycle of control cannot be implemented without the involvement of these parties.

For instance, the food and beverage department sends a purchase requisition to the procurement department, so that they can forward a purchase order to prospective suppliers for the products requested.

On the other hand, the procurement department then requests the finance department to ascertain the possibility of funding these products. If the costs to be incurred are within the finance budget, then it approves the transaction to proceed.

Besides, it is important to realize that a typical operating cycle of a five star hotel involves seven stages. They include purchasing, receiving, storing, issuing, preparation, serving and service.

Purchasing, receiving, storing and issuing fall under the procurement department. In purchasing, the department develops specifications to meet the product quality and prepares a list of potential suppliers to be contacted for the purpose of supplying these goods.

Before the suppliers are selected, they undergo an appraisal procedure that only approves a few of them that are reliable.

On receiving the goods, the purchase department checks on their quality and quantity, whether they meet the set standards and prices as per the initial agreement and whether they have been delivered at the agreed time and manner. Finally, the department moves these goods to the store.

Inventory control is very essential to avoid excess of goods in the store that may increase carrying costs and also under-buying should be avoided to reduce ordering cost.

Hence, for the procurement department to be effective, then they should a Just-In-Time delivery system that ensures the supply of the limited quantities based on demand.

While issuing the goods from the store to the food and beverage department, the procurement department ensures they match the issue and usage to avoid waste and making subsequent orders only when the inventory is depleted.

However, preparation, serving and service fall under the food and beverage department. The food and beverage preparation starts in the kitchen.

The kitchen is managed by the executive chef and his assistant, whose responsibility is to ensure quality and consistency in preparing food and also ensure that the guests get satisfied (Cesar 2002, p.23).

When evaluating quality in the kitchen, the executive chef assesses the professional qualification of the cooks, whether they are putting on their aprons, if the kitchen room is clean and ensures the safety of the cooks, both from physical injury and in a case of unprecedented fire outbreak.

He also ensures that the hotel’s recipe is followed consistently so that the unique taste of the hotel’s products is maintained.

The assistant chef is responsible for the day to day operations of the kitchen besides representing the executive chef when he is not around. In addition, the kitchen management cannot be complete without station chefs who supervise specific sections of products.

For instance, we may have a pastry chef, a roast and grill chef among others. These are specialists in these products and they ensure that products of good quality are produced to meet customer satisfaction.

Moreover, a five star hotel has a bar that is supervised by the bar manager. These managers are better termed as sommeliers who work hand in hand with the bar maids.

These bar maids are involved in the beverage cycle that entails ordering, receiving, bar stocking, servicing and guest billing.

In addition to their management roles, the sommeliers take part in serving (ordering the drinks from the store and then delivering them to the bar maids) while the bar maids take part in providing direct services (taking orders from guests and giving them bills for payment) to the guests.

Hence, the sommeliers order specific wines that are frequently demanded by their esteemed customers, through the procurement department. On receiving these orders, the bar maids help the sommeliers to select the best wines based on the quality and brands.

If the drinks meet the required standards, the bar maids help in stocking the wines onto the bar shelves. They also help in taking orders from individual guests and billing them appropriately.

Before the bills reach the guests, the sommeliers supervising the staff countercheck them to ensure that they are neither overcharged nor undercharged by the bar maids.

This measure ensures that the hotel’s pricing policies are met. They also check on the wine dispensing system to ensure that it is in good working condition so as not to fail their services.

Besides, the hotel has a separate steward department headed by the chief steward. He ensures that the stewards have maintained cleanliness of the glassware and cutlery, dish washing machines, and that they control pests (Druly 2002, p. 45).

All the wine glasses and other utensils are collected and put in a dish washer for cleaning purpose. The incoming and out going number of these cutlery is recorded to determine those that have been broken, so that they are replaced immediately. Special detergents are used for cleaning glassware to ensure they remain free from stains.

For many hotels, pest control is an important issue to be looked at. These pests include flies, cockroaches, and mosquitoes.

Flies and cockroaches can be controlled by ensuring that all surfaces of equipments, seats and tables both in the kitchen, hotel and bar rooms have been cleaned thoroughly.

Where they become a menace, then pesticides can be applied at varying times not to infringe the comfort of the guests (Horace 2006, p. 22).

Another department that is crucial in the hotel is the catering department. However, the term catering is sometimes confused with banquet. In catering, guests can eat at varying times while in a banquet they eat at once in one place.

Hence, the catering division works closely with the director of food and beverage, director of sales and the executive chef through their catering services manager (Bond 2006, p. 13).

Since the catering division is concerned with providing services outside the hotel, then director of food and beverage and the executive chef have to know the expected number of guests to serve, the foods and drinks they would like to order for and whether they may require the products such as cakes to be customized so that they may supervise their staff appropriately in producing them.

On the other hand, the director of sales determines the prices of all the orders that have been placed and ensures that the hotel gets the revenue at the right time.

Finally, the food and beverage should have a security department that takes care of the store. It is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that only the authorized persons gain access into the food store. The guards also keep a record of the store.

The food and beverage department is faced by issues related to perishables, poor economic times, and technology. Some foodstuffs are usually imported and so by the time they reach at the premises, they have only a few days left to go bad.

In addition, the changing economic times have been a challenge to five star hotels that deal in foreign currencies which have been seen to depreciate over time.

Another challenge is the cost of technology that is required to produce goods and services of high quality (Dimmit 2004). These and other challenges have been an uphill for the hotel industry.

Reference List

Bond, F 2006, Practice of management: modern hotel , 3rd edn, Harvard Business Review, New York, US.

Dimmit, T 2004, Embracement of technology in the food and beverage division, PhD Thesis, Yale University, via American Digital Thesis Program.

Druly, H 2002, Management and hospitality in a modern hotel, 4th edn, Thomson Learning, London, UK.

Horace, T 2006, Challenges facing the hotel industry: poor economy, technology and pest control , 2nd edn, Thomson Learning, London, UK.

Cesar, J 2002, Hotel management: food and beverage , 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Berkshire, UK.

Washington, L 2005, Strategies of management: generic strategies, Stanford University, pp. 23-25.

Wood, K 2000, “Management of a five star hotel”, University of Cambridge, pp. 60-62.

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