Authors : Anjali Rajwade
Page Nos : 101-105
Description :
Food is a basic natural need of the living including human being. Man has evolved ways of
procuring food & its management. Food, being a largely perishable commodity, is likely to
result in food wastage unless specific, well planned and timely executed steps are taken for
wastage prevention. If, at times, total prevention is practically not possible, then the aim
should be to achieve maximum reduction in wastage of food and utilization of the waste for
some related useful purpose. There is need for reduction in food wastage because, it is a
double loss – The food that is lost as well as the monetary loss. In order to make some
recovery, it is best to utilize the waste food in various gainful manners. Strategies for food
wastage reduction include wastage reduction at crop level, at transport level, at storage
level, in case of cooked food before consumption and in case of leftover food. Nutrition
experts can conduct socially oriented extension activities to propagate the message of
prevention of food wastage. Domestic kitchen gardening and community kitchen gardening
can be very useful and multipurpose schemes. The strategically managed food wastage
reduction involves government departments at local, state, regional and central levels,
NGOs and community members; in well coordinated manner with the principle of „Self help
is the best help‟.
keywords: strategies, food wastage, wastage reduction
