Romania Facing the Problem of Food Waste

Abstract

In Europe, an estimated 87.6 million tonnes of food is wasted in one year. Romania is in the middle of the European ranking in terms of the volume of food thrown away, a fact mentioned in the study published by the ONU. It is estimated that 1.35 million tons of food are dumped annually in our country, indicating only food from people's households. So, every year, 70 kilograms of food per person is thrown in the trash. The COVID pandemic has caused an increase in food waste, both because of the population that has procured very large quantities to stock up and because of the distribution chains that have undergone changes in their functioning. The EU and its Member States have set themselves the goal of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030, using the ONU targets. Concrete measures have been taken to reduce food waste and losses. Where this cannot be done, they urge the reuse, recycle and use the food for another purpose. Citizens of the EU are urged: to reduce the production of food waste from production to distribution, to reduce the amount of food thrown away from households, to stimulate food donations, to monitor and account for the application of measures to combat food waste.

Keywords

• food waste
• food security
• households
• losses