The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has entreated companies and non-profit organisations worldwide to join its new initiative to facilitate the move towards global food security. The SAVE FOOD initiative, established last year, is designed to reduce food losses and waste, according to the FAO.

The initiative is intended to reduce the estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food that is lost or wasted every year, an amount valued at nearly one trillion U.S. dollars. It focuses on improving practice, investing in infrastructure and improving access to new technologies.

The project also incorporates a media campaign aimed at changing attitudes, targeted investment to address key areas where waste is a major problem and further study to build up an accurate picture of waste in the world’s food networks, enabling the FAO and its partners to identify further areas for action and inform on policy decisions.

FAO spokesperson Gavin Wall today said the initiative could have implications for food security and environmental protection. He said, "With 900 million hungry people in the world and one trillion dollars at stake, joint action in reducing losses and waste can improve livelihoods, food security, and minimize the environmental impact. Improving food security by cutting food losses and waste is a challenge we all share and will be a central theme discussed at the UN Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development ."

One-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is thrown away or lost, as well as the natural resources used for its production. Food losses and waste amounts to roughly $680 billion in industrialized countries and $310 billion in developing countries.

Although some experts have speculated that there needs to be a dramatic increase in agricultural production in order to meet the challenges posed by climate change and a rising world population, others have suggested that cutting down on waste, distributing resources more equitably and introducing sustainable consumption patterns could prove just as significant. SAVE FOOD believes that the world’s hungry could be fed adequately if just a quarter of the food currently wasted were saved.

Recent studies commissioned by FAO estimated yearly global quantitative food losses and waste at roughly 30 per cent for cereals; 40–50 per cent for root crops, fruits and vegetables and 20 per cent for oilseeds, meat and dairy

Losses In developing countries, food losses hit small farmers the hardest. Almost 65 percent of those losses happen at the production, post harvest, and processing stages. In industrialized countries, food waste often occurs at the retail and consumer levels due to a "throw-away" mindset. Per capita waste by consumers is between 95-115 kilograms (kg) a year in Europe and North America, while consumers in sub-Saharan Africa and South-Southeast Asia throw away 6-11 kg.

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