Mismanagement causing food wastage in Thailand, says FAO

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has stated that Thailand is wasting its food supply through mismanagement during its journey from the field to the consumer.
Surin Kamsor, a supervisor of the Bar B Q Plaza restaurant at Central Ramindra, said most of its leftover food was vegetables but the waste was limited, as only one trash bag was required per day.
“We don’t have much food wasted in our restaurant because we can store leftover meat in the freezer so it can be used the next day, but a small amount of vegetables are binned because we use fresh vegetables every day,” Surin said.

Little leftover food
The owner of grilled-meat buffet restaurant Lukchum Mumtuk in Chiang Mai, Suchai Chanseaneekorn, also said that there was only some leftover food after customers finished their meal. “It is not very much because if the customers leave too much food, they are fined,” he said.
“We manage the vegetables and meat just enough for the day, and the leftover fresh food is used the next day, except vegetables,” Suchai said.
“Intensive labour is required to produce food, so we should not waste it,” he added.
Rosa Rolle, FAO technical coordinator of the Save Food Campaign, said food loss and food waste were the main issues for Thailand because of improper management of food products from the field to the consumers, causing valuable food to spoil.
According to information from the Office of Agricultural Economics cited by the FAO, 30 per cent of agricultural goods are damaged during transport and stocking because of inadequate storage and lack of proper transport and |post-harvest technologies. Internationally, one-third of food products are wasted during the production process and irresponsible consumption.
Rolle said there was still no exact figure on how much food is wasted at the consumer level but unfinished food on dishes was easily seen in restaurants.

UNEP theme
The United Nations Environment Programme came out with this year’s World Environment Day theme of “Seven Billion Dreams, One Planet, Consume with Care”.
UNEP emphasised on its website that if the trend of over-consumption remained unchanged, by 2050 when the world population will increase to 9.6 billion, we would need three planets to sustain our needs sufficiently.
Isabelle Louis, deputy director of the UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said it was time for people to change by shifting their consumption patterns towards goods that use less energy, water and other natural resources, and by wasting less food.
“We look forward to the people of Thailand joining many around the world in this endeavour and inspiring each other with their actions. World Environment Day is an opportunity for all of us to realise our responsibility to care for our planet and become agents of
 change,” Louis said.