Nicholas Burge writes: Between one third and one half of food produced for human consumption is wasted each year according to the FutureFood 2050 initiative. That’s more than 1.3 billion tonnes which could, if not wasted, feed over 1.25 billion people on the planet.

Let’s look at some of the statistics for Australia provided by OzHarvest:

· In Australia, over 4 million tonnes of food is wasted per year

· That’s 178kg per person

· The retail value of this food is AUD $7.8 billion

Confusion and inconsistency over date labelling on food is a significant contributor to the food waste issue:

· 25% of food discarded was due to it being past its “Sell By Date”

· 37% of food discarded was due to it being past its “Use By Date”

· 10% of people believe that eating food past its “Best By Date” is a serious health risk

Read the full article at the Australian Institute of Food Safety website