According to the latest report from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) around one third of all food produced is not consumed but wasted. This amounts to a figure near 1.3 billion tonnes.

On average wealthier countries waste food at a rate of between 95-115kg per person per year, mostly as fruit and vegetables, the poorer countries of the world average between 6 and 11kg of food wasted per person per year.

Wealthier countries waste food mainly at consumer level and throw away at least 222 tonnes each per year, which is close to the total food production figure for some countries in Africa.

Not only is there an actual waste management issue with this problem but the sheer waste in production is staggering. The money and resources that have been put into growing the food to only have it all thrown away is most definitely not sustainable.

Developing countries are also a significant issue with an increasing rate of food waste, particularly at the post harvest and processing stages of the food cycle.

Part of the problem in wealthy countries is acknowledged as the expectation that only perfect fruit and vegetables should be on sale or purchased. There has to be a change in mindset for this staggering and major sustainability issue to be addressed in the long term.

The report can be found at fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ags/publications/GFL_web.pdf"target="self"rel="nofollow">Global Food Losses and Food waste