Eat less meat, stop wasting food and buy in season. These small measures could make a huge difference to people in developing countries, a new report from Oxfam says.
The Food Transformation – Harnessing Consumer Power to Create a Fair Food Future report points out that about one-third of the food produced for people’s plates ends up lost or wasted between farm and fork.
“Each year, the amount of food thrown away in rich countries is almost the same as that produced in sub-Saharan Africa,” it says.
Oxfam research found that one in six apples, or about 5.3 billion, ends up in the bin every year.
“The greenhouse gases produced in growing, trading and decomposing these apples is equivalent to burning 10 million barrels of oil. Only buying the apples we need and storing them in the fridge will help cut this waste.”
The report says that if urban households in the US, UK, Spain and Brazil were to eat a meat-free meal once a week for a year, the greenhouse gas emissions saved would be the equivalent to taking 3.7 million cars off the road.
It urges people to support small food producers and buy fairly traded products. The report also says energy and greenhouse emissions would be significantly cut if people bought foods in season.
“What we do in the supermarket or in the kitchen does matter,” said Oxfam Ireland chief executive Jim Clarken.
“If enough people act, the reverberations will be felt right along the food chain.”