What is the Most Wasted Food in the UK
March 16, 2022
Waste Food Disposal Farm Feed, Excess Unsold Food Products De-Packaging, Recycling
Wasting food is extremely bad for the environment, but humans waste around one third of all food produced. Food takes a lot of resources in its production including water, land and labour. It’s amazing how much perfectly edible food is thrown away regularly by all of us, in fact 10 million tonnes is thrown away per year in the UK alone. Some more shocking facts about food waste include:
- One third of food produced across the globe is wasted or lost
- The average family within the UK spend £470 on food that ends up in the bin
- Supermarkets across the UK waste 240,000 tons of food annually
- 100m pints of milk a year are destined to be thrown down the drain
- 50m chickens a year go to waste
- The UK wastes over 10 billion tonnes of food per year
There are a number of reasons for wasted food, such as food products that are unpopular, and stop being ordered by supermarkets. The available supply is then left to go off, or we buy more food than we need so that is allowed to deteriorate. Food waste plays a significant role in climate change, so efforts should be made to tackle the problem.
The most wasted food in the UK is bread!
This is a shame, as 32% of the bread wasted is fine to eat, and it can be used in a variety of ways when not at its freshest. For instance, breadcrumbs to coat home made burgers etc need to be made from slightly stale bread. This is because it is less moist and crumbles well. To revive stale bread sprinkle with water and warm it briefly in an oven, or make a summer pudding which requires stale bread. Leftover bread can also be covered in chopped tomatoes, grated cheese and herbs, then popped under the grill.
There are loads of great ways to use up stale bread, just have a look around the internet for ideas.