Food waste is a growing problem, not only in the United States, but across the world. Every year roughly one third of all food produced in the world for human consumption goes uneaten. The sobering paradox is that while millions of tons of food are being thrown in the garbage, one in nine people worldwide were chronically undernourished in 2012-2014. Most of the worlds hungry live in developing nations (791 million) with an additional 14 million people living in developed countries. One in six Americans say that food runs out at least once a year, with over 17 million households in the U.S. not having adequate resources to meet their basic food needs. Whereas problems with food production, transportation and storage infrastructures account for a substantial majority of food loss in the developing world, in industrial countries, the largest proportion of food waste is at the hands of individual consumers. In fact, in the United States every year a typical four-person household discards roughly $1,500 worth of usable food.

Waste in The Aggregate Food Marketing System: A Conceptual Framework

The problem of food waste is a complex one, involving multiple actors and institutions. Food is lost or wasted throughout the marketing system, from the farm to the consumers table. To delve into the nature of these losses, as well as potential remedies, I adopt the concept of the aggregate marketing system. Such a perspective when applied to the food supply recognizes that the marketing system incorporates many business activities and processes as well as actions by consumers and governments. It is composed of planned and continuous flows among participants, including the flows of commodities, finished goods, payments, information and influence. The system is far-reaching in several respects, extending all the way from the collection of agricultural products through multiple intermediate processes for ultimate use and disposition by an individual household. Adoption of a system perspective enables insight into the drivers of food waste across sectors and societies. Here is a basic conceptual framework that identifies major contributors to, and forms of food waste within the system: