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Food Loss and Waste: Measurement, Drivers, and Solutions

Edward S. Spang, Laura C. Moreno, Sara A. Pace, Yigal Achmon, Irwin R. Donis-González, Wendi Gosliner, Madison P. Jablonski-Sheffield, Abdul Momin, Tom Quested, Kiara Winans,

Annual Review of Environment and Resources · 2019 · 239 citations · 111 references

DOI Full text

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TL;DR

One‑third of global food is lost or wasted, imposing substantial environmental, economic, and social costs, and the issue has attracted growing cross‑sectoral attention. This article synthesizes existing knowledge on FLW measurement, drivers, and solutions. The review is structured using the DPSIR framework, a widely adopted model for analyzing drivers, pressures, states, impacts, and responses. Key takeaways are inconsistent FLW definitions, persistent data gaps across food types, supply‑chain stages, and regions—especially in developing countries—, a focus on proximate causes rather than systemic drivers in current solutions, and the need for complementary approaches and robust evaluation to achieve effective FLW responses.

Abstract

It has been estimated that one-third of global food is lost or wasted, entailing significant environmental, economic, and social costs. The scale and impact of food loss and waste (FLW) has attracted significant interest across sectors, leading to a relatively recent proliferation of publications. This article synthesizes existing knowledge in the literature with a focus on FLW measurement, drivers, and solutions. We apply the widely adopted DPSIR (Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response) framework to structure the review. Key takeaways include the following: Existing definitions of FLW are inconsistent and incomplete, significant data gaps remain (by food type, stage of supply chain, and region, especially for developing countries), FLW solutions focus more on proximate causes rather than larger systemic drivers, and effective responses to FLW will require complementary approaches and robust evaluation.