Food waste: a political ecology approach

Abstract

Food waste is the loss of perfectly edible food products. It is a wide-ranging phenomenon: a substantial part of agricultural production is never consumed. The prevalent, most widespread paradigm regarding this phenomenon holds that it is due to inadequate logistics and technology, or to poor management of food on the part of end users. However, an analysis from a political ecology standpoint allows a different interpretation: the root of the problem lies in the hegemonic agrofood system and the unequal power relationships between the actors in the agrofood chain. Key words: Food waste, agriculture, agrofood system, supermarkets, political ecology