
Dr. Toby Warden
National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
FFAR award amount $336,000
Year Awarded 2019
Total award amount $673,000
Location Washington, DC 20001
Matching Funders Walmart Foundation
Reducing consumer food waste at the consumer level can lessen food insecurity, improve diets, save consumers money, mitigate climate change and raise awareness about the value of food.
Consumers’ food habits are driven by their social networks, the media, the food marketing industry and government policies. Thus, efforts to reduce consumer food waste must involve changes across the entire food system, social networks and the media – not just individual habits.
To better understand consumer food waste, we invested in a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (National Academies) study to identify how consumers behave toward food and opportunities for system changes. The multidisciplinary, expert committee conducting the study, chaired by University of California, Davis Professor Emerita Dr. Barbara O. Schneeman, examined existing data, information and research on consumer food waste.
The resulting report includes recommendations that institutions – such as industry associations, schools and government agencies – can implement to help consumers reduce their food waste.
Each US consumer wastes, on average, a pound of food every day. Food waste is not only a financial loss, but it also creates a loss of nutrients and a loss of the inputs that went into growing the food.
Reducing food waste offers significant benefits:
Environmental benefits
Farmer benefits
Retailer benefits
Consumer benefits
The National Academies committee’s holistic approach to understanding the causes of food waste identified interventions that state and federal governments, the food industry, commercial entities, nonprofit and volunteer organizations, educational institutions and foundations can implement to encourage responsible food decisions.
The committee’s objectives included:
Our Health-Agriculture Nexus Challenge Area focuses on reducing food waste to increase food security. This research provides a clear action plan for institutions to help consumers waste less.
Additionally, the committee worked across disciplines, business, government and other sectors to develop a national strategy to reduce food waste. The collaboration aligns with our goal of convening stakeholders to generate results that benefit farmers, consumers and the environment.
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