Consumers’ understanding of food waste and their attribution of blame

Abstract

Reflecting on the emergence of a past civilisation, evidence suggests that the supply and availability of food has played a significant role. For the last few decades, food has been appraised as being relatively cheap, readily available and more accessible than any other time in history. This could partly explain why food is often so easily wasted across the food supply chain and beyond. In South Africa alone, an average of 11 million people are deemed food insecure. The country has the highest proportion of food wastage in Africa. The latest figures present that South Africa disposes of approximately one third (10.2 million tonnes) of food produced which costs the country R61.5 billion (Current exchange rate R14.39 = $1) (2.1% of national GDP) annually. Because the mitigation of food waste is an essential element of ensuring South Africa’s sustainability, one would expect heightened awareness of food waste from farm to fork. Unfortunately, this is not yet a reality and the primary reason for this can be attributed to the lack of a proper definition of food waste. The reviewing of literature on food waste poses a scenario where one is not only confronted with but also confused by the myriad definitions presented.

The principal aims of this study were to investigate and describe consumers’ definition of food waste, to investigate their self-reported food waste practices and lastly, to identify who they think is best equipped to address food waste concerns in South Africa. A structured, self-administered electronic questionnaire was used to collect quantifiable data from respondents recruited across Gauteng, South Africa. The data analysis included both descriptive and inferential statistics. Regarding inferential statistics, analysis of variances (ANOVA) were used to test for possible, significant differences between demographic groups.

Results revealed that respondents, unfortunately, do not acknowledge food wasted during production, processing, or distribution (pre-consumer stages). Respondents mostly did not view industry food waste as a concerning issue, which indicated that consumers were more likely to define food waste as a household problem. In terms of self-reported food waste, respondents indicated that they waste (percentage per commodity) mostly vegetables (21,10%), fruit (20,14%), bread (19,22%) and dairy (14,22%). When prompted to indicate whom they felt is best equipped to address the food waste problem in South Africa, respondents revealed that food retailers and the government should take the lead.

Going forward, South Africa, as an emerging economy that is facing food insecurity, needs to address current food waste practices and act to reduce food waste to ensure a sustainable supply of food for future generations.