Echoing research published last week by the EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre, researchers studying food waste in the United States have urged for measures to combat the waste of meat in particular.

Although overall less meat is wasted compared to fruit and vegetables, the water, carbon, land and nitrogen footprint of meat - especially red meat - is much larger than other types of produce because it takes more resources to produce. Researchers refer to this as being ‘resource-dense’.

A team from the University of Missouri concluded that waste meat therefore has a much larger environmental impact than other forms of waste.

"While many of us are concerned about food waste, we also need to consider the resources that are wasted when we throw away edible food," said Christine Costello, assistant research professor at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. "Farm equipment used to feed and maintain livestock and plant and harvest crops uses a lot of diesel fuel and other utilities from fossil fuels. When people waste meat, these fuels, as well as fertilizers, are also wasted. Based on our study, we recommend that people and institutions be more conscious of not only the amount but the types of food being wasted."

During the study, pre- and post-consumer food waste was collected from four all-you-care-to-eat dining facilities over three months in 2014. Costello and her research team categorised the waste (e.g. into meat, starches, vegetables) and judged whether it was edible or inedible. They then estimated the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the waste, from fertiliser use, vehicle transportation, and utilities use on farm.

The researchers said that US Department of Aagriculture (USDA) estimates from 2011 show that almost a third (31 percent) of food produced in the U.S. goes to waste. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has estimated that worldwide between a third and one half of all food produced is wasted between farm and fork. The USDA figures show that 60 billion kg of food went to waste in 2011.