A little more…
Ministers
Dine on 'Not So Cosmetic' Food in Kenya
By Njenga Hakeenah
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| A dinner setting in a Qatari Restaurant Photo: Njenga Hakeenah |
February 20th 2013
Time check: 1900Hrs
Location: UNEP, Gigiri, Nairobi
Event: Dinner
A little more…
This brings to mind an advert on Kenyan TV a few years ago where
the child would not have enough due to the deliciously made meal.
Those are the long gone memories and days.
Today however, food which is in every way healthy
to consume is binned for not meeting cosmetic standards contributing to billions of tonnes of food being
thrown away in the world today.
Despite the rising costs of producing the food and the ever
increasing number of food needy people, this has continued unabated in the
world today.
However, in what could mark a turnaround to this wastage, hundreds of ministers and high-level officials
dined on perfectly good food grown by Kenyan farmers but rejected by UK
supermarkets. The reason for this trashing of otherwise good food is due to due
to cosmetic imperfections.
British standards are extremely high!
British standards are extremely high!
The zero-waste reception, taking place during a meeting of the first UNEP Governing Council under universal membership, was in support of Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint . The initiative was launched in January by UNEP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners such as Feeding the 5,000 and Messe Dusseldorf.
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| An African meal comprising of mashed potatoes, chicken and vegetables Photo: Njenga Hakeenah |
The campaign aims to promote actions by
consumers and food retailers to dramatically cut the 1.3 billion tonnes of food
lost or wasted each year – which aside from the cost implications and
environmental impacts increases pressure on the already straining global food
system – and help shape a sustainable future.
UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner says, “No economic, environmental or ethical argument can be made to justify the extent of food waste and loss currently happening in the world, and at UNEP we practice what we preach”. He added, “With this dinner we are demonstrating to retailers, consumers and policymakers who can push for change that the astonishing amount of food we throw away is not just edible and nutritious, but also delicious.”
Tristram Stuart, food waste author and founder of Feeding the 5000, a key partner organization that has organized such dinners for years, visited producers across Kenya to source around 1,600 kilogrammes of unwanted fruit and vegetables for the meal and for donation to local charities.
The food had been grown for the export market only to be rejected – largely due to stringent standards over appearance or orders being changed after vegetables had been harvested.
UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner says, “No economic, environmental or ethical argument can be made to justify the extent of food waste and loss currently happening in the world, and at UNEP we practice what we preach”. He added, “With this dinner we are demonstrating to retailers, consumers and policymakers who can push for change that the astonishing amount of food we throw away is not just edible and nutritious, but also delicious.”
Tristram Stuart, food waste author and founder of Feeding the 5000, a key partner organization that has organized such dinners for years, visited producers across Kenya to source around 1,600 kilogrammes of unwanted fruit and vegetables for the meal and for donation to local charities.
The food had been grown for the export market only to be rejected – largely due to stringent standards over appearance or orders being changed after vegetables had been harvested.
Some of this unwanted produce is sold on the
local market or donated, but the quantities are so large that local markets
cannot handle the volume and so much of it is either left to rot or fed to
livestock – prompting resentment amongst Kenyan farmers who must bear the costs
themselves.
“It’s a scandal that so much food is wasted in a country with millions of hungry people; we found one grower supplying a UK supermarket who is forced to waste up to 40 tonnes of vegetables every week, which is 40 per cent of what he grows,” said Mr. Stuart. “The waste of perfectly edible ‘ugly’ vegetables is endemic in our food production systems and symbolizes our negligence.”
“But it is also a huge opportunity: by persuading supermarkets to change their standards, and by developing processing and other ways of marketing this produce, we can help to increase on-farm incomes and food availability where it is needed most,” he added. “This dinner, and the many Feeding the 5000 events we have run, aims to change attitudes and highlight best practices, by showing that there is absolutely nothing wrong with this food we so casually discard.”
While UK supermarkets are in the frame here in Kenya, experts believe that similar practises are happening in respect to supermarkets in many parts of the developed, and increasingly in parts of the developing, world.
Chef Ray Cournede, from Nairobi’s prestigious Windsor Hotel, utilized the rescued food to cook a five-course meal that included such delights as Grilled Sweet Corn Tamales, Yellow Lentil Dal with Tamarind and Mangomisu – Tiramisu with a tropical twist. Mr. Cournede also prepared mango chutney and candied fruit peels, which show ways to preserve and use fruits when in season.
The dinner was a zero-waste event: guests were encouraged to doggy bag leftovers and many of the fruits and vegetables were donated to MCEDO, a community-based organization that runs a school with a feeding programme for 580 children in Nairobi’s Mathare informal settlement.
The Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint campaign is in support of the SAVE FOOD Initiative to reduce food loss and waste along the entire chain of food production and consumption.
“It’s a scandal that so much food is wasted in a country with millions of hungry people; we found one grower supplying a UK supermarket who is forced to waste up to 40 tonnes of vegetables every week, which is 40 per cent of what he grows,” said Mr. Stuart. “The waste of perfectly edible ‘ugly’ vegetables is endemic in our food production systems and symbolizes our negligence.”
“But it is also a huge opportunity: by persuading supermarkets to change their standards, and by developing processing and other ways of marketing this produce, we can help to increase on-farm incomes and food availability where it is needed most,” he added. “This dinner, and the many Feeding the 5000 events we have run, aims to change attitudes and highlight best practices, by showing that there is absolutely nothing wrong with this food we so casually discard.”
While UK supermarkets are in the frame here in Kenya, experts believe that similar practises are happening in respect to supermarkets in many parts of the developed, and increasingly in parts of the developing, world.
Chef Ray Cournede, from Nairobi’s prestigious Windsor Hotel, utilized the rescued food to cook a five-course meal that included such delights as Grilled Sweet Corn Tamales, Yellow Lentil Dal with Tamarind and Mangomisu – Tiramisu with a tropical twist. Mr. Cournede also prepared mango chutney and candied fruit peels, which show ways to preserve and use fruits when in season.
The dinner was a zero-waste event: guests were encouraged to doggy bag leftovers and many of the fruits and vegetables were donated to MCEDO, a community-based organization that runs a school with a feeding programme for 580 children in Nairobi’s Mathare informal settlement.
The Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint campaign is in support of the SAVE FOOD Initiative to reduce food loss and waste along the entire chain of food production and consumption.
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| A bowl of dessert Photo: Njenga Hakeenah |
Worldwide, at least one-third of all food
produced, worth around US$1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food production
and consumption systems, according to data released by FAO. Food loss occurs
mostly at the production stages – harvesting, processing and distribution –
while food waste typically takes place at the retailer and consumer end of the
food-supply chain.
According to FAO roughly 95 per cent of food loss and waste in developing countries are unintentional losses at early stages of the food supply chain due to financial, managerial and technical limitations in harvesting techniques; storage and cooling facilities in difficult climatic conditions; infrastructure; packaging and marketing systems.
However, in the developed world the end of the chain is far more significant. At the food manufacturing and retail level in the developed world, large quantities of food are wasted due to inefficient practices, quality standards that over-emphasize appearance, confusion over date labels and consumers being quick to throw away edible food due to over-buying, inappropriate storage and preparing meals that are too large.
Per-capita waste by consumers is between 95 and 115 kg a year in Europe and North America/Oceania, while consumers in sub-Saharan Africa, south and south-eastern Asia each throw away only 6 to 11 kg a year.
“Together, we can reverse this unacceptable trend and improve lives. In industrialized regions, almost half of the total food squandered, around 300 million tonnes annually, occurs because producers, retailers and consumers discard food that is still fit for consumption,” said José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General.
According to FAO roughly 95 per cent of food loss and waste in developing countries are unintentional losses at early stages of the food supply chain due to financial, managerial and technical limitations in harvesting techniques; storage and cooling facilities in difficult climatic conditions; infrastructure; packaging and marketing systems.
However, in the developed world the end of the chain is far more significant. At the food manufacturing and retail level in the developed world, large quantities of food are wasted due to inefficient practices, quality standards that over-emphasize appearance, confusion over date labels and consumers being quick to throw away edible food due to over-buying, inappropriate storage and preparing meals that are too large.
Per-capita waste by consumers is between 95 and 115 kg a year in Europe and North America/Oceania, while consumers in sub-Saharan Africa, south and south-eastern Asia each throw away only 6 to 11 kg a year.
“Together, we can reverse this unacceptable trend and improve lives. In industrialized regions, almost half of the total food squandered, around 300 million tonnes annually, occurs because producers, retailers and consumers discard food that is still fit for consumption,” said José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General.
He adds, “This is more than the total net food
production of Sub-Saharan Africa, and would be sufficient to feed the estimated
870 million people hungry in the world.”
good agenda, i still find it elitist, folks just trying to continue relevance. Look at it this way, its venue and who attended are the bourgeois who for them, eat less. who eats most btw? the poor scramble for that they have!! mmhhh, the wastage is largely the 'middle class'... and this campaign does not go anywhere near them!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Khamadi. Appreciated!
ReplyDelete