Definitions of Food Loss and Waste
Together, food loss and waste comprise the total edible parts of plants and animals (food) that are produced and harvested for consumption by humans but in the end are not consumed by humans (Lipinski et al. 2013; Parfitt et al. 2010). Therefore, food which was produced for the intention of human consumption but is then redirected to other uses such as bioenergy or animal feed is still counted as food loss and waste.
The terms “food loss” and “food waste” in some cases are used interchangeably, but in fact they refer to losses at different stages of the food supply chain. The food supply chain is composed of the stages that food travels through from agricultural production and harvest to reaching the consumer. These stages include agricultural production (harvest), postharvest handling and storage, processing (i.e., slaughter, production of food items such as bread from wheat, etc.), distribution (i.e., markets and retailers), and consumption (FAO 2011)....
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Kennard, N.J. (2019). Food Waste Management. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Zero Hunger. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69626-3_86-1
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