Food that is wasted, food that is missing, food that we really need

FAO, the food agency of the United Nations, has made two accounts, with the Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources, on the production of food, how much we consume, how much is missing in the world, and how much land and water and how much air (with greenhouse gases) we use to produce the food we eat. Or rather, that we throw away: because, every year, 1.3 billion tons of food, food produced and never consumed, end up in the garbage can. Almost half of global production. And in the garbage, FAO calculates, they also end up with 750 billion dollars, which is their market value. Every year. More than half of food waste occurs "upstream", during the production, harvest and storage phase. The remaining 46 percent during processing, distribution and consumption. Between 30 and 40 percent of fruit, vegetables, dairy products and meat is thrown away by supermarkets or ends up in the waste of families in Europe and the USA, 4-16 per cent goes to the pulp even in the poorest countries. But it is a circle that never closes, that of food species: despite the contraction of consumption in recent years, due to the economic crisis, it has been calculated that if the entire world population had the same voracity as we Europeans, three planets would be needed to produce the required amount of food. And let's come to Italy. Black of food waste curated by Last Minute Market, 240 thousand tons of food, worth over 1 billion euros, remain unsold in the deposits of grocery stores and in large-scale distribution: we could be to feed 600,000 people for breakfast, meal and dinner for one year. It is not just an economic problem, for those who cannot afford that food and are forced to tighten their belts or queue at Caritas for a food package. Nor is it just a moral shame: the cycle of industrial production has an increasingly heavy impact on the environment, on the planet's own resources. To produce 1 calorie of beef you need 57, including animal feed, care, land used, greenhouse gas emissions, meat processing, transport, packaging, retail. For a calorie coming from the egg, 37 are needed, for tomatoes the ratio is 4 to 1. The agri-food industry, in Italy, employs 3 million and three hundred thousand workers, weighing 8.7% of GDP, 119 billion EUR. Figures and percentages that double, if we add the related industries of the producers of technical means, the subcontractors, feed producers, distribution, catering: as a whole, everything is worth the considerable figure of almost 250 billion euros, 16 % of national GDP. But Italian food exports are less than half of German ones (27 and 57 billion euros respectively). And what economists call the propensity to export, for Italy in this sector it is decidedly lower than that of all the main European competitors (21% for Italy, 23% for Spain, 25% for France and 31 % for Germany). Of course, our products are the most imitated in the world, the German "Parmesan" has taught us: but we import almost 50% of cereals, 90% of vegetable proteins, over 40% of beef, more than 30% of swine and milk. Internal imbalance and global imbalance, with entire populations forced to give up the traditional livelihood of their pastoralism or agriculture because their territory is used for intensive and single-product cultivation. With the fruits of the earth, of farming, of transformation, which no longer allow those who produce and process them to survive, and the poorest consumers to have to give them up, because in the meantime, with large-scale distribution, the price has doubled, tenfold, one hundredfold. Expo 2015 and the Milan Charter want to serve this menu: the best of production from the many countries that will come to Milan, but also the problems of producers and consumers, for a more fair and supportive world. Even at the table. The prices of our fruit and vegetables are low also thanks to thousands of new slaves exploited every day in the fields. And when they are not there, they prefer to rot food because it would cost too much to collect them. Fabio Chiucconi of Tg2 made this 'journey into the world of corporals' 

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Rome 23 April 2015 FAO, the United Nations agency that deals with food, has made two accounts, with the

Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources

, on the production of food, how much we consume, how much is missing in the world, and how much land and how much water and how much air (with greenhouse gases) we use to produce the food we eat. Or rather, that we throw away: because, every year, 1.3 billion tons of food, food produced and never consumed, end up in the garbage can. Almost half of global production. And in the garbage, FAO calculates, they also end up with 750 billion dollars, which is their market value. Every year.

More than half of food waste occurs "upstream", during the production, harvest and storage phase. The remaining 46 percent during processing, distribution and consumption.

Between 30 and 40 percent of fruit, vegetables, dairy products and meat is thrown away by supermarkets or ends up in the waste of families in Europe and the USA, 4-16 per cent goes to the pulp even in the poorest countries.

But it is a circle that never closes, that of food species: despite the contraction of consumption in recent years, due to the economic crisis, it is estimated that if the entire world's population had the same voracity of us Europeans, it would take three planets to produce the required amount of food.

And we come to Italy. According to

Book Black of food waste

curated by Last Minute Market, 240 thousand tons of food, worth over 1 billion euros, remain unsold in the deposits of grocery stores and in large-scale distribution: we could and feed 600,000 people for breakfast, meal and dinner for one year.

It is not just an economic problem, for those who cannot afford that food and are forced to tighten their belts or queue at Caritas for a food package. Nor is it just a moral shame: the cycle of industrial production has an increasingly heavy impact on the environment, on the planet's own resources. To produce 1 calorie of beef you need 57, including animal feed, care, land used, greenhouse gas emissions, meat processing, transport, packaging, retail. For a calorie coming from the egg, 37 are needed, for tomatoes the ratio is 4 to 1.

The agri-food industry, in Italy, employs 3 million and three hundred thousand workers, weighing 8.7% of GDP, 119 billion EUR. Figures and percentages that double, if we add the related industries of the producers of technical means, the subcontractors, feed producers, distribution, catering: as a whole, everything is worth the considerable figure of almost 250 billion euros, 16 % of national GDP.

But Italian food exports are less than half of German ones (27 and 57 billion euros respectively). And what economists call the propensity to export, for Italy in this sector it is decidedly lower than that of all the main European competitors (21% for Italy, 23% for Spain, 25% for France and 31 % for Germany). Of course, our products are the most imitated in the world, the German "Parmesan" has taught us: but we import almost 50% of cereals, 90% of vegetable proteins, over 40% of beef, more than 30% of swine and milk.

Internal imbalance and global imbalance, with entire populations forced to give up the traditional livelihood of their pastoralism or agriculture because their territory is used for intensive and single-product cultivation. With the fruits of the earth, of farming, of transformation, which no longer allow those who produce and work them to survive, and the poorest consumers to have to give them up, because in the meantime, with large-scale distribution, the price has doubled, tenfold, one hundredfold. Expo 2015 and the Milan Charter want to serve this menu: the best of production from the many countries that will come to Milan, but also the problems of producers and consumers, for a more fair and supportive world. Even at the table.

The prices of our fruit and vegetables are low also thanks to thousands of new slaves exploited every day in the fields. And when they are not there, they prefer to rot food because it would cost too much to collect them. Fabio Chiucconi of Tg2 made this 'journey into the world of corporals'

Food that is wasted, food that is missing, food that we really need

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