Recently, a series of policies and measures focusing on food saving and loss reduction have been intensively introduced in various regions and departments——

　　Reduce food loss and increase "invisible fertile land"

　　Qiu Haifeng and Xu Junyi "People's Daily Overseas Edition" (11th edition on January 4, 2022)

　　In 2021, China's total grain output will reach 1365.7 billion catties, and its grain production has won the "18 consecutive harvests."

After a bumper harvest, how to further ensure national food security?

Saving food and reducing losses is a key link.

　　Recently, a series of policies and measures have been intensively promulgated from the central to the local level to promote the strengthening of savings and losses in all links of the grain industry chain.

As the world's largest producer and consumer of grain, what is the current situation in China's grain reduction and loss reduction?

What are the challenges?

How to advance further in the future?

　　Waste problem exists in the whole food industry chain

　　"Now when I go out to eat, I can often see signs like'Save food, dine in a civilized,'CD Action'. The waiter in the restaurant will remind you to order on-demand food. It is also common to pack unfinished meals." Talking about the feelings of eating out. Shen Ru, a Shanghai citizen, said bluntly that "very big changes have been made in recent years."

　　In recent years, all regions and departments have actively promoted strict economy and combating food waste. In 2021, food saving and loss reduction efforts have been further increased: In April, the "People's Republic of China Anti-Food Waste Law" was passed, and there are laws to follow to control food waste. In May, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission issued a plan for the whole chain of grain conservation and loss reduction, and proposed 40 specific tasks from 8 aspects; in October, the Central Office and the State Council issued the “Food Conservation Action Plan”, The specific target by 2025: In December, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission and others issued the "Anti-Food Waste Work Plan" and proposed 18 measures...

　　Why is it so strong to regulate grain loss?

Sun Zhongye, dean of the School of Economics and Trade of Henan University of Technology and head of the Food Economic Research Center of Henan’s first batch of characteristic think tanks, said that at present, my country’s grain demand is rigidly increasing, resources and environmental constraints are becoming increasingly tight, and it is becoming more and more difficult to increase grain area and increase production. big.

At the same time, the global new crown pneumonia epidemic continues to spread, and the impact of climate change is increasing, making it more difficult to ensure the stability of the food supply chain.

In this context, the problem of food waste in my country is still serious, and there are obvious losses in production, storage, transportation, processing, and consumption.

If the problem of loss and waste can be solved well, it is equivalent to adding "invisible fertile land", which is very important to guarantee national food security.

　　According to the statistics of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the annual global food loss from production to retailing accounts for more than 10% of the world's food production.

A reduction of 1 percentage point of this loss is equivalent to an increase of more than 27 million tons of grain, enough for 70 million people to eat for a year.

A report released by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2021 shows that the total amount of global food waste in 2019 reached 931 million tons, which can be filled with more than 23 million trucks with a load of 40 tons. The vehicles are connected end to end and can go around the equator about 9 times.

Among them, household consumption accounts for 61%, retail accounts for 13%, and food service accounts for 26%.

　　Carrying out food saving and loss reduction is also beneficial to the ecological environment.

Studies have shown that every kilogram of food produced means 5.22 kilograms of carbon dioxide, 220 grams of nitrogen and 40.56 grams of phosphorus.

Sun Zhongye said, “To promote food saving and loss reduction, we need to continuously update technology and equipment. Energy consumption in related links will be further reduced, and the use of clean energy will reduce pollution emissions. This in itself is a process of protecting the ecology, reducing emissions and reducing carbon. Help carbon peak and carbon neutrality and realize green development and sustainable development."

　　Vigorously promote technological innovation in food saving and loss reduction

　　How to achieve food saving and loss?

A series of policy documents have put forward many targeted measures around the problems of loss and waste in grain production, storage, transportation, processing, and consumption.

　　At present, the purchase of autumn grains is accelerating, but the rain and snow brings challenges.

According to Liu Hang, the executive deputy general manager of Jiangsu Sheyang Rice Group Co., Ltd., continuous rainfall and snowfall can easily cause moldy and deterioration of grain, and drying equipment is very important at this time.

"In recent years, we have increased investment in post-production drying of grain. In 2021, we will dry 18,000 tons of spring and summer wheat and 25,000 tons of autumn rice. At the same time, we actively serve the society and provide farmers with 10,000 tons of wheat and 20,000 tons for free. Rice drying service effectively reduces the loss of grain storage.

　　Focusing on improving the conditions for post-production drying of grains, the "Food Conservation Action Plan" proposes to include complete sets of grain drying facilities and equipment into the scope of the pilot subsidy for new agricultural machinery products to improve the drying capacity.

Encourage major grain-producing counties to promote the application of environmentally friendly drying facilities and increase the promotion of green heat source drying equipment.

Encourage new agricultural business entities, grain enterprises, and grain post-production service centers to provide farmers with grain drying services, and the electricity used for drying land shall be managed in accordance with agricultural standards.

　　Driven by the policy, all localities actively provide drying services.

According to data, since the launch of autumn grain, 280 postpartum service centers in Shandong have helped farmers clean more than 10 billion catties of dried grain, saving 400 million catties; 353 postpartum service centers in Sichuan have cleaned more than 2 billion catties of dried grain, saving 1.4 billion catties. 100 million catties; Jiangxi’s 326 postpartum service centers cover nearly 1,400 townships and 5.3 million rural households, which are expected to increase farmers’ income by more than 300 million yuan.

　　Processing is another important link to save food and reduce losses.

In recent years, some consumers have been overly pursuing the diet misunderstanding of "polished rice and white noodles".

The data shows that more than 90% of the rice (polished rice) with accuracy above standard one is supplied in the Chinese market, the sum of special one and two special flours (fine noodles) in the flour exceeds 70%, and the wheat core flour and snow with higher processing precision The market share of pollen and other products is also expanding.

Sun Zhongye pointed out that the finer and whiter rice noodles are not the better. Excessive pursuit of refined rice noodles not only loses a lot of dietary fiber, vitamins and other nutrients, but also reduces the yield of grain and oil.

　　"It is necessary to carry out in-depth scientific and technological innovation to provide strong support for grain saving and loss reduction." Zhou Guanhua, Director of the Department of Safe Storage and Technology of the National Grain and Material Reserve Bureau, said that in response to the problem of over- and fine-grained food processing, the national science and technology plan focuses on bulk flour products and rice products. The development and demonstration of key technology and equipment for moderate oil processing, breakthroughs in green processing, moderate refining technology, high value-added manufacturing technology, and quality and safety control, and other key technologies, help solve the problems of nutrient loss and protein function damage caused by excessive processing of grain and oil in my country .

Strive to provide the people with nutritious and delicious grain and oil products while reducing food loss and waste, so as to continuously meet the people's healthy consumption needs.

　　In response to the problems of extensive planting, insufficient refinement of harvesting machinery, unmatched agricultural machinery and agronomics, and irregular operation of the machine hands, the person in charge of the Central Agricultural Office stated that the "Food Conservation Action Plan" clearly proposed to speed up the selection and promotion of varieties that are suitable for planting and breeding. Apply precision seeding machinery and key technologies; promote fine grain harvesting, formulate and revise technical guidelines for mechanical harvest reduction of rice, corn, wheat, and soybeans, improve emergency seed harvesting equipment and emergency service supply capabilities, improve the ability of operators to standardize operations, and reduce fields The land is harvested and lost.

　　Curb "waste on the tip of the tongue"

　　It is equally important to save food and to curb "waste on the tip of the tongue".

The "Anti-Food Waste Work Plan" issued by the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission and others recently proposed that in addition to promoting the reduction of food consumption in various links, it is also necessary to curb food waste in the catering industry, strengthen catering economy in public institutions, and promote rational use of food.

　　Industry insiders pointed out that to strengthen the management of catering industry operations, we should improve the catering industry’s anti-food waste system, and improve industry standards and service standards.

Encourage and guide catering service operators to actively remind consumers to order the right amount of meals, proactively provide services such as "small portions" and "small portions", and provide consumers with food portions, specifications or suggestions on the menu or the display page of the online catering service platform Information such as the number of consumers.

　　Recently, the Market Supervision Bureau of Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province issued the "Code of Conduct for Catering Service Operators Against Food Waste", suggesting that catering service operators should provide no less than two set meal standards, and the recommended number of consumers is indicated on the set meal standards.

Consumers should be reminded of the waste that may be caused by the amount of food ordered, and recommendations for the amount of meals can be given if conditions permit.

After the meal is finished, consumers should be prompted to pack the remaining meals.

Catering service operators must not set a minimum consumption amount, or induce, mislead, or set the minimum consumption amount in disguise, such as private room fees.

　　Companies are also taking active actions.

The person in charge of the takeaway department of Xibei Noodle Village said, “The demand for takeout by young people is gradually increasing. If they provide large portions of food, it is easy to cause waste. In order to meet the needs of customers to eat alone and reduce food waste, we focus on the takeaway menu. Launched the product "for one person"."

　　Many canteens have begun to introduce methods such as reservation meal, meal rationing, small meal serving, and on-demand meal supplementation.

“According to the students’ feedback on the message board in the canteen and on the school’s public account, the canteen in the north district of the school now offers more types of side dishes.” said Xiao Chen, a student from Fudan University. “We are used to eating out with family members. Meals are packaged, but it’s unrealistic to pack in school. It’s not convenient to carry around during class. There is no refrigerator in the dormitory. Small servings are good enough to meet the needs of buying as much as you want!"

　　"In the past year, my country's food-saving and loss-reduction policy measures have involved all links in the entire grain industry chain. They are more systematic and strengthen rigid institutional constraints. This is a big breakthrough." Sun Zhongye said, but we must ensure relevant policy measures. To implement it and see results, all parties need to work together. For example, strengthen the publicity and education of food saving and loss reduction, conduct public opinion supervision, expose food waste, strictly control the scale and standards of banquets, and curb large-scale operations. Extravagance and waste.

In addition, establish a regulatory system that combines departmental supervision, industry self-discipline, and social supervision, comprehensively use self-inspection, random inspection, verification and other methods, continue to carry out normalized supervision, improve the normal long-term governance mechanism, and promote more obvious results in food saving and loss reduction. .