What happened to waste not want not?

Food security is on the agenda in agriculture not just in Australia, but around the world. When I started researching this topic, it was interesting to read some of the articles that were looking at the flip side of food production - food wastage!

When you think of food wastage, what do you think of? I know myself, the first thing I think of was when I was a kid, piling up the dessert bowl on Christmas Day after a big lunch, only to realise part-way into the Pavlova that there was no way I could possibly fit it all in. My eyes were far too big for my belly and of course, coming from a family of farmers, I was not to waste a mouthful!

I stumbled across a study in the UK in 2010 that looked at the many aspects of food wastage. Instead of just over indulgence, there were many relevant factors that contributed to wastage. Here are some that I thought were concerning to say the least:

• 49% of respondents didn't understand the meaning of 'best before date' of which 36% of these people were confusing 'best before date' with 'use by date'.
• 75% of respondents were wasting food because of poor home economics skills, that is poor shop planning and recombining leftovers into new meals.
• 60% of respondents found their food was going 'off' - due to not knowing to maintain correct fridge temperature.

These findings raise some very important questions. If we look at food wastage do we start to look at labelling associated wastage in order to slow down the occurrence of a potential food crisis? If so how do we get that message across to our consumers? It certainly makes you start to wonder if we should be addressing inefficient food usage as well as efficient food production?