Posts tagged Food Waste

‘Perfect storm’ created for food collapse, panel hears

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science
A vegetable seller in Hanoi, Vietnam. COVID-19 disruptions have worsened hunger and receded development gains. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 26.11.2021 (SciDev.Net): Hikes in oil prices, conflicts, emerging diseases, poor governance, and disruption in supply chains due to transportation blockages during the pandemic have come together to create a potentially devastating scenario for the global food system, a panel on food security heard.

“These have created a perfect storm for global food collapse”, Fan Shenggen, chair of the academy of global food economics and policy at China Agricultural University, told an online panel hosted by SciDev.Net and its parent organisation CABI on Thursday (25 November).

Globally, food prices are up nearly 33 per cent since the same period last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s monthly food price index released on 2 September.

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Hunger far from unknown in the land of plenty

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Features
Ronni Kahn of OzHarvest, one of the many groups helping the hungry, says there is too much wasted food in Australia. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 25.06.2010 (IPS): Devina Celeste, 50, waits in a queue of about 40 people at the Neighbourhood Centre in the inner-city suburb of Newtown for the only hot meal she will get on this cold winter night.

The queue, comprising 40 percent teenagers and students, is growing. Many have formed strong bonds of friendship while sharing this only meal a day together on weekdays. There is a brief cheer as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) `Food for Life’ van arrives. Chris Smith, an IT analyst and volunteer driver is quick to lay the stall and start serving the meal on bio-degradable plates.

“This is my only nutritive meal. Almost 50 percent of my earnings go in rent and the rest in bills and the basics”, says Celeste, a massage therapist, as she relishes the hot “Khichadi” made of lentil, rice and vegetables and the semolina desert. She is amongst a growing number of “working poor”, who are unable to earn enough to support themselves.

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