1.3B tons of food wasted away annually worldwide

With the support of the Food Safety Agency of Azerbaijan, the National Confederation of the Entrepreneurs (Employers’) Organizations of Azerbaijan and PASHA Bank, a meeting was held on the topic ‘Food waste: ways to solve the problem,’ Report informs referring to the Confederation.

Opening the meeting, head of the cooperation with entrepreneurship department at Azerbaijan Food Safety Institute Mehran Mammadli touched upon food losses in the country, as well as the problem of creating a food bank.

Head of the food chain control department and work with regional divisions Majid Piriyev noted that the recycling process is one of the stages of this chain. For 2020 and the past months of 2021, it was decided to throw away 7,489 tons, 84,000 decaliters of products, dispose of 92,000 tons, 113 decaliters of products.

According to the representative of the ADA University Anar Veliyev, 1.3 billion tons of food products are thrown away annually in the world. The cost of food waste is $680 billion, while in developing countries the figure is $310 billion.

Veliyev informed entrepreneurs about the economic benefits of reducing losses.

Interestingly, rice accounts for 14 percent of food losses in Azerbaijan. Some 12 percent of wheat and 10 percent of potatoes are thrown out in the country every year. The losses of rice in Turkey make up 4-5 percent, and in Azerbaijan, they reach 14-15 percent.