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production, handling and storage

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  • Cosmetic Filtering

One of the most apparent reasons that food is discarded at the production stage is due to cosmetic filtering. Stringent standards adopted by farms and supermarkets leaves them to expect the food to be flawless and fresh. The high need for consistency in size, shape, color, and texture for consumers to think that it is attractive sees to blemished or oddly-shaped food thrown away even if they are still edible. “Culling” is the term used to explain this process. Plants and fruit products have natural variation when growing but the effects of people living in an “Instagram” world where everything has to be perfect, results in a natural rejection of undesirable food. A study conducted by Electrolux found that 83% of Singaporeans would only purchase fruits and vegetables that are “nice looking,” and revealed that 1/4 never would never eat “ugly food.” Such an alarming figure shows that precious resources that are invested to produce food are wasted.

 

  • Profitability driven

Bad weather conditions and the infestations of pests contributes to the uncertainty of food production by farmers, resulting in excess production of crops to meet production requirements set by manufacturers. The pursuit of profit results in many crops left unharvested, spoil and go to waste not due to a loophole in the system, with an estimation of 6 billion unharvested crop per year

Furthermore, a perceived positive correlation on profits with the use of pesticides on crops creates unsafe food that isn’t fit for human consumption. Pesticides help to control pest in our production and storage food to increase the amount of usable food in phase. Research conducted in France found that 77% of farms could cut pesticide use and profits earned remains the same! Pesticide residue when consumed can have adverse health effects on human. With the drive for profit, improper handling and unhygienic storage of food ensure efficient production of food but produces unsafe food at the same time. This often causes many foods to be thrown away when they do not meet the minimum standard of food safety

 

  • Food transportation

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It is critical to ensure proper transportation of food throughout the supply chain, particularly with perishable goods that require cold conditions. Inconsistent refrigeration is less of a problem today than in the past, but it still occurs when trucks malfunctions or are involved in accidents. Other transportation problems occur in developing countries too! The transportation of milk using rickshaws in Bangladesh results in milk losses as the warm and humid climate fails to provide a proper cold chain. The terrains that these rickshaws transporters travel also prolongs the time milk is handled.

With Singapore importing 99% of its food from all over the world, transportation of food poses a big challenge to ensure food are still in a good condition.The importation of food often sees to food waiting at the port for testing for days, and it significantly reduces their shelf life as they are often kept at improper temperatures. Shipments that do not pass the testing are rejected and dumped, yet shipments that are accepted might be dumped due to excess quantities and surplus of products in food bank or stores. All this continues to add to the wastage of food as rejected shipments are usually disposed of.

 

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