SINGAPORE (Aug 12): Some 342,000 tonnes of food loss occurs within Singapore each year — even before the food reaches retail outlets and consumers — translating into an estimated $2.54 billion lost from farm to market.
According to a joint study unveiled on Aug 6 by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and Deloitte Singapore, this refers to food loss occurring along the upstream and midstream segments of the fresh-food supply chain between producer and the market. This starts from the production stage, through to transport, processing, storage and distribution.
Some of the key drivers of food loss identified in the study are poor disease and pest management, over-importation of food items, fragmented cold-chain management, and inadequate infrastructure.
In addition, food waste further downstream, comprising unconsumed and uncooked food discarded by consumers, amounted to some $342 million each year.
According to the study, close to a third of respondents say they throw away more than 10% of food weekly. The research shows that, at the consumer stage, more than 26,000 tonnes of unconsumed foods are thrown away from households annually owing to improper storage, purchasing patterns and food handling habits.
Globally, food loss and waste is estimated to be worth US$1.2 trillion ($1.66 trillion) annually.
Interestingly, the study also found that some 80% of respondents do not fully understand the difference between the various labels used on product packaging, such as “use by”, “best before” and “date of expiry”.
“In Singapore, food waste is largely monitored at the post-consumer or downstream stage, with little awareness of the losses occurring at the upstream and midstream stages,” says SEC chairman Isabella Huang-Loh. “When taken together — especially given the fact that Singapore imports more than 90% of its food needs — the bigger picture points to an urgent need to address food loss and food waste now.”
Huang-Loh says the study is aligned with and in support of the national “Year towards Zero Waste” agenda, and “30 by 30” goal to produce 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs locally by 2030.
It included comprehensive interviews with more than 30 key stakeholders in the local food supply chain as well as a consumer survey on food storage behaviour, purchasing patterns and food handling habits covering more than 1,000 respondents.
“Food loss and food waste is preventable. This is unsustainable if we are to do nothing to curb and manage the issue. We want our study to create value and wider conversations among multiple stakeholders on food loss and food waste to throw up possible solutions,” says SEC executive director Jen Teo. “For example, local farmers may want to utilise more innovative ways like the application of technology to reduce food loss.”
SEC and Deloitte point to egg producers in Singapore as a role model with a high level of efficiency that other local farmers can emulate.
Through the use of measures such as automation, and the application of science and technology in disease management, they say egg farms in Singapore have been able to maximise output while ensuring minimal loss during production.
The study identified the egg supply chain as the best example with the least amount of waste generated. Eggs accounted for only 1.6% of food loss incurred within Singapore each year, at about 5,500 tonnes.
The study aims to identify the drivers of food loss and waste in the country by determining the quantities involved, and then uncovering opportunities to reduce this food loss and waste.
SEC and Deloitte say there are several upstream and midstream solutions that could be viable to cut down on food loss. These include better disease and pest management in a controlled environment, investing in process automation, and infrastructure improvements upgrades to improve produce handling and storage.
In addition, an integrated cold chain management could improve the freshness of the produce for the consumer. “The objective here is we want to encourage the industry, for example, the logistics players, to come up with solutions to better manage the cold chain, or to improve the efficiency of the logistics so that we can take a shorter time to transport the food, especially for perishable items” says Rayson Ng, director of risk advisory for sustainability services at Deloitte & Touche Enterprise Risk Services.
“Similarly, a greater awareness of the impact of food waste on the environment could give rise to a growing pool of smart and efficient consumers who don’t discard food unnecessarily,” adds SEC’s Teo.
