"Think. Eat. Saves. Reduce your food footprint", is the name of the program that has launched the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in conjunction with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), it is a campaign that is executed worldwide against food waste.
The campaign, which has been joined by restaurants, hoteliers, food producing companies, indicates some useful recommendations when it comes to managing food in the best way and thus avoiding waste and reducing the food footprint.
Among the tips are: ask for smaller portions in restaurants, freeze food or donate what we do not consume to food banks, are small actions that help to take this initiative forward.
"It's not just about managing assets, worrying about energy savings and managing an establishment; knowing how to manage food leads to a progressive saving of money, while working for a good cause, "they commented from the campaign.
According to the FAO, 1.3 billion tons of food are lost or wasted each year. That is, a third of the food that is produced, which is equivalent to a trillion dollars.
For UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, in a world of seven billion people, which will rise to nine billion by 2050, food waste "makes no sense either economically, environmentally or ethically. Aside from the cost involved, all the land, water, fertilizer, and labor needed to grow that food is lost. Not to mention the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the decomposition of food in landfills and the transportation of food that is eventually discarded."
UNEP and FAO underlined that for the campaign to develop its potential, all actors in society need to be involved: families, supermarkets, hotel chains, schools, business directors, mayors, national and world leaders.
