Quantifying Food Waste: Focus on Vegetable Production
Photo: Carole Parodi,
Agroscope
Food waste in primary production is rarely recorded – yet this data is key to devising effective reduction strategies throughout the entire value-added chain. This analysis evaluates existing measurement methods with the focus on vegetables.
Around 37% of edible food is wasted every year in Switzerland. To address this issue, the Federal Council adopted the Action Plan to Reduce Food Waste in April 2022 with the aim of halving food waste by 2030.
Vegetables and potatoes account for the largest share of avoidable food waste, at 104.3kg per person and year. These volumes put this product group second in the food waste league table in terms of environmental impact. One third of this waste is generated during primary production, e.g. when vegetables that fail to meet the size standards are rejected. A current data gap makes it difficult to effectively quantify the volumes of waste generated, yet this information is needed to obtain a complete picture and devise reduction measures throughout the value-added chain.
The aim of this study is to compare existing scientific studies on food waste in the primary production of vegetables as the basis for deriving approaches for a monitoring system to record this waste in Switzerland.
Understanding food waste: study comparison and monitoring approaches
For this analysis we searched Scopus, the database for scientific publications, for studies which met the following criteria:
- published after 2015,
- studies of food waste in Europe, North America and Oceania,
- peer-reviewed.
The focus lay on studies of tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions and lettuce. These crops were chosen because they cover different growing methods (field-grown and greenhouse) and crop types (root, leaf and fruit vegetables), and represent the vegetables most widely grown in Switzerland. The ten studies which met the criteria were analysed and compared.
Major differences in how food waste is recorded
The selected studies use food waste definitions from different institutions. The differences mainly relate to:
- whether food waste recovery (e.g. as animal feed) is considered,
- whether non-edible parts (e.g. peel) are included,
- and whether a distinction is made between avoidable and unavoidable waste.
These definitions have a significant influence on quantification, since the waste rates appear correspondingly higher or lower due to the in- or exclusion of certain components.
In addition, the studies use different measurement methods. Some record waste directly, by weighing or counting, others estimate the quantities based on interviews or surveys. These methods generate data in different units and with different degrees of uncertainty.
Finally, the studies record different reasons for waste. Some consider total on-farm losses, others only avoidable losses, or specific reasons for losses, e.g. vegetables that were not harvested. As a result, the measured losses in the studies are not always comparable.
Conclusions
- In Switzerland there is a data gap concerning the amount of avoidable food waste generated through the production of vegetables and potatoes.
- Furthermore, there are few studies on this subject at international level. Existing studies define food waste in different ways, use different measurement methods and record different reasons for losses. Consequently, the results are not comparable.
- A monitoring method is needed in Switzerland to record vegetable and potato losses and provide a complete picture of food waste throughout the entire value-added chain.
- Existing studies can provide measurement approaches for developing a suitable monitoring method. However, these must be validated with the involvement of different stakeholders and adapted to the Swiss context.
Bibliographical reference
Methoden zur Erfassung von Lebensmittelverlusten in der Gemüseproduktion.
