One in seven people go to sleep hungry every day. Yet, tonnes of food is wasted across the world because of careless attitudes, poor food storage and bad government policies. In fact, roughly one-third of food that is edible for human consumption gets lost or wasted. That is 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food every year. So the simple question is: Why is food being wasted? Do people not care enough to end their wasteful habits? Or is political apathy proving to be a hindrance in excess food reaching the hungry? This week, Gulf News readers debate the issue of food wastage and what can be done to stop the problem. Join the debate by posting your thoughts on our Facebook page ‘Gulf News Al Nisr Publishing UAE’ or tell us at readers@gulfnews.com.
14:02 Gulf News: Reports of famines force people to rethink their wasteful habits.
14:03 Eisha Gupta: Famines force the people who are affected by it to rethink their habits. As for the rest of the unaffected population, I am not so sure.
14:05 Patricia Formentera: I doubt it. Some people just don't care. Why would they? They don't feel the effect.
14:06 Sunil Roy: Reports of famine are just ‘another news item' to be read and discarded. Very few people really rethink about food wastage after reading about famines.
14:07 Patricia Formentera: Awareness campaigns might help. Not just once, but make it a habit of reminding people how many children don't get to eat, while some are just wasting food.
14:08 Zainab Das: It is a very sad situation when we see so much of food being wasted in hotels, when all people have to do is to get it packed.
14:08 Ramachandran Nair: More than a billion starving people are living in the world today. The wasted food can easily end the hunger of those living in Africa and the rest of the world. The sad part is that educated and economically-developed countries make no sincere effort to control the waste.
14:08 Eisha Gupta: Food outlets can put up posters saying ‘Please buy according to your needs and do not buy more than required' and have attractive offers wherein if the customer chooses a particular meal, the outlet will donate money to the unfortunate.
14:09 Patricia Formentera: I know so many people who waste the leftovers in restaurants because they feel embarrassed asking for it to be packed.
14:10 Gulf News: Food policies, not individual habits, are responsible for people going hungry around the world.
14:11 Eisha Gupta: It is true that food policies are responsible for people going hungry. But, that does not mean that people simply waste food. One has a moral obligation to society.
14:11 Shereen Mir: I don't agree with the statement. Food wastage is such a vast issue. I don't think we can limit it to just bad food policies.
14:12 Sunil Roy: Policies are guidelines that need to be followed. But if individual habits are not regulated, it would not help, no matter how great the policies are.
14:12 Ramachandran Nair: Individual habits basically point to common sense and understanding the value of preserving basic needs. Food is one of the basic requirements for survival and should be given its due importance. Perhaps developed nations should set an example for others by saving food and effectively controlling wastage.
14:14 Munawar Aziz: We are wasting food in our entertainment programmes, which if saved can feed at least 100 people. Have you seen how much food we waste at weddings?
14:15 Gulf News: Most people are unable to learn the value of abstinence from fasting.
14:16 Shereen Mir: This can be mostly because they don't know what fasting actually means!
14:16 Ramachandra Nair: There has been a change in people's perception of fasting and the benefits derived from it. Perhaps, it could be taken as an ideal occasion to be completely refreshed, physically and psychologically.
14:17 Eisha Gupta: When one fasts, he or she does learn the value of abstinence. Depriving the body of food for a part of or the whole day is a big deal and people who do it do learn about abstinence.
14:19 Patricia Formentera: No. As I see things around me, people fast because it is a part of their religion, not necessarily because they want to feel what the hungry go through.
14:19 Sunil Roy: Abstinence is the first step towards the bigger objective. Fasting is part of every religion and at times people follow it on religious grounds. Abstinence is followed mainly on account of inner convictions and the need to make a difference - to the self as well as to the society at large.
14:20 Patricia Formentera: As a Catholic, I used to fast during Lent. But I didn't know why I was fasting. Then I realised it is because of the tradition of our religion.
14:20 Shereen Mir: Also, I have seen many people who fast during the day but during iftar, they waste huge amounts of food. When asked to stop, they retaliate by saying that if they are blessed enough to spend that much on food, why shouldn't they?
14:21 Zainab Das: I completely agree with Shereen. Some people indulge in binge eating, and what happens at the end? A lot of food is wasted.
14:21 Gulf News: People confuse wastefulness with generosity.
14:25 Sunil Roy: It is just a perception. Generosity is something that comes from the heart whereas wastefulness is something that stems from the ego. I have seen these instances in many weddings in my home town.
14:25 Ramachandran Nair: Recently, the government in India has taken some serious initiatives to curb the wastage of food at weddings and social gatherings. A study indicates that food wasted at weddings and social events in India's commercial hub Mumbai alone would be enough to feed the city's large slum population.
14:27 Zainab Das: According to me, there have been many awareness campaigns to reduce food wastage, so it's not helping. I guess a little additional charges on food wastage may help people realise the costs, at least monetarily if not morally.
