What happens with food waste? – How to be a conscious consumer?
According to data published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) over 1.3 million tons of food waste are being generated a year. This amount equals to about 30% of global food production.
At European level, about 29 million tons of dairy products are wasted annually, which corresponds to 20% of global milk production. According to data made available by the Hungarian Food Bank, about 400.000 tons of food is wasted annually only in Hungary.
Did you know 
that 42% of Hungarian families tend to throw away food? From 10 consumers 8 claim that they have thrown away food due to loss of quality while about 2 persons say that this is because of the date of expiry. Hungarian households waste mainly bread, cooked food, vegetables and fruits, meat and liquid food, as stated by a study carried out by Tetra Pak. This study also showed that 4 % of surveyed people throws away food each day, while 27% does the same at least once per week and other 11% at least once per month. Food waste is composed mainly of bead (53%) and cooked food (43%).
The survey also concluded that only 30% of Hungarians decompose or reuse food for feeding animals.
There is an ever-increasing need to change our consumption habits and to be more conscious when buying food.
(Photo taken and made available under a Creative Commons license by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, source: https://flic.kr/p/qiAHRf No changes were made on the original photo.)