Canada wastes 13 million tonnes of food every year

Canada has been labelled as one of the biggest wasters of food on the planet in a new report.

According to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), Canadians waste or lose 13 million tonnes of food every year, breaking down to 396kg per person per year.

This compared with 415kg in the United States, which reports an annual food wastage of 126 million tonnes.

Other studies have estimated that food wastage costs the Canadian economy around $30 billion a year, while creating 21 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from landfills.

Caused by consumers

Many would presume that restaurants and chefs are committed to limiting food waste and that seems to be the case, with research showing that consumers are by far the biggest contributor, accounting for six tonnes of food wastage every year.

On average, every Canadian tosses away 170 kilograms of food a year, the report suggested.

The research also looked at why perfectly good food was being lost or wasted across several stages of the journey, including post-harvest, processing, distribution, retail and foodservice.

In the foodservice sector, factors leading to food waste included plate composition, expansive menu options, over-serving, over-preparing, unexpected demand fluctuations, preparation mistakes, improper handling and storage, rigid management, employee behaviour, food safety concerns, use of trays and marketing practices.

Some of these causes could be addressed with proper forethought and planning, as well as effective staff training, and the report identifies key players with the influence to address these causes: facility owners and managers, service providers, distributors, food rescue organizations and various levels of government.

Compared to the United States and Mexico, Canada wastes considerably less water - 1.6 billion m3 per year to 13.4 billion in the US and 2.7 billion in Mexico.

Potential solutions

The report outlines several ways that food loss and waste can be addressed, such as cutting down food waste at the source, inventory management and offering reduced portion sizes in foodservice to limit plate waste.

Another method would be to accept and integrate more second-grade produce into retail settings, typically at a discount.

The CEC has also called for financial incentives for food donation, encouraging the donation of safe and nutritious food that would otherwise be wasted.

César Rafael Chávez, the CEC’s executive director, hoped the report would establish a baseline and identify the tools and strategies available to each sector of the food supply chain to reduce losses.

“As we build a greater understanding about the impact of food loss and waste on our economy and environment, we must also commit ourselves to take action on source reduction and food rescue and recovery, at all stages of the food supply chain,” he commented.