Skip to main content

Report identifies key areas in food losses

| Research tools

A South African study has identified key areas of the global food supply chain where high losses occur, particularly in developing countries. Reducing food losses and waste can contribute to efforts to alleviate world hunger.

Food is lost at each step of the ‘food supply chain’. Loses occur during production, harvesting, handling, storage, processing, distribution and even during consumption.

The study, funded by the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security and conducted by University of Pretoria’s professor Elna Buys and collaborators has revealed that first-world consumers waste food, for example, by discarding food when it reaches its ‘sell-by’ date. 

In developing countries, food is lost across the entire food chain. The reasons for this include outdated harvesting techniques, poor storage and cooling facilities, limited infrastructure, and inadequate packaging and marketing systems. “The food industry’s unscientific determination of shelf life also contributes to food loses,” says Buys.

Since many low-income or unemployed South African consumers rely on the informal food sector to supply their food, helping small-scale farmers and informal traders to reduce losses could ultimately benefit both suppliers and consumers.

South Africa loses food in both first- and third-world ways. For instance, Buys and her team discovered that many ready-to-eat meals on supermarket shelves were still perfectly safe to eat even after the ‘sell-by’ or ‘use-by’ dates listed on the packaging.

Worryingly, however, some foods that were still within their stipulated shelf lives had high levels of bacteria that can cause food poisoning.

“This may point to problems with the cold storage or packaging aspects of the food supply chain. For both the formal and informal food sectors, packaging systems that extend the shelf life of fresh foods would help to make food safer and reduce waste,” concludes Buys.

For more information, go to www.foodsecurity.ac.za.


Related Articles

Three-day weekends ahead? South Africa’s four-d...

By: Xolile Mtembu - IOL The results for the South African trial of the four-day work week model are out and they show a resounding success among companies who participated.

Checkers killing Pick n Pay in home delivery

Daily Investor Pick n Pay CEO Sean Summers said they started home delivery two decades ago but that Checkers took the lead through their Sixty60 service.

How much money cashiers, trolley collectors, an...

Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi gazetted the new sectoral determinations for workers in South Africa’s wholesale and retail sectors in the first quarter of the year, which reveals the minimum baseline wage for workers in the sector for...

Woolworths bosses score massive R255 million pa...

Woolworths released its annual remuneration report for 2023 – revealing how much the retailer’s top execs earned over the last financial year.

Cheapest retailer for a full basket of grocerie...

A recent consumer report compared the prices of 23 grocery items across four of South Africa’s most popular food retailers – revealing Shoprite as the cheapest option.