Food plays a pivotal role in shaping society with its abundance or dearth impacting all facets of life. The first industrial revolution transformed the way economies functioned and with food being an immensely valuable commodity, for much of the mid-1800s to the early 20th century, food wastage was dissuaded. The periods of rationing during the world wars also had governments pushing for minimal wastage. The rapid globalization and green revolution allowed for mass production of cheap foods from the 1930s. With the increasing complexity of food chains, consumers become increasingly disconnected from the production and disposal of food and food waste become invisible. The abundance of food impacted the cultural relevance and economic value attached to it, completely flipping earlier attitudes (Evans et al., 2012). In the mid-2000s the realization that a third of all globally produced food, worth US$ 990 billion was wasted, was jarring especially in the face of the global food crises of 2
008 (Evans et al., 2012). The environmental impacts of food waste are not just limited to the greenhouse gas emissions (3.3 Gigatons of CO2) as a result of rotting in landfills but also to the significant land (1.4 billion hectares) water (footprint 250 km3) and unquantifiable biodiversity loss (FAO, 2013). With 800 million people worldwide still food insecure, food waste becomes a highly political, social and economic issue, highlighting the underlying systemic issues with the current food system and the inequalities that have persisted (Alexander et al., 2013). The strain that food production puts on the planetary boundaries in the face of climate change and an ever-increasing population has spurred global organizations and countries into developing strategies and targets to reduce food waste. This essay will focus on the causes of food losses occurring in the supply chain and critically examine the industry initiatives and governments policies that were introduced to combat food loss.