Wasting food is a problem all over the world, but are all kinds of foods equally likely to be wasted? The answer is no. Some foods are especially prone to it, while others are likely to be used much more carefully. Here are the world’s most wasted common foods in helpful chart form.
At the top of the list of foods most likely to be wasted are fruits and vegetables, with almost half of all those grown wasted. Meanwhile, items like meat and dairy were doing much better at around 20%. Those simple totals, however, do not tell the whole story.
For that, you have to look a little closer at the individual data breakdowns, at both where and how food is being wasted. For instance, fish has a relatively low waste ratio at just under one-third. If you look exclusively at North American and Oceanic use, however, you’re looking at a much less tidy figure — it’s closer to two-thirds of all fish, and the majority of that loss is on the consumer side.
You can see all the infographics, which were created by the FAO’s Food Loss program, right here:
Top image: Candus Camera / Shutterstock, Charts: FAO.
