Rethink Hong Kong's food supply
Mayling Chan says Hong Kong needs to see beyond its fixable problem of food waste and rethink the city's food supply - and agricultural policy - to ensure security in times of crisis
In Hong Kong, the problem of food waste has dominated our attention so much that we have almost forgotten about warnings of an impending food crisis and food security issues - such as families being able to meet even basic nutritional needs - that exist here and elsewhere in Asia.
Many children in Hong Kong believe their food originates from supermarkets, I have been told. A lack of understanding of how food is grown, harvested, processed and distributed means there is little appreciation of the skills and efforts of farmers and other food producers. In consequence, there's little concern about wasting food, both at home and in the food industry.
The problem of food wastage is compounded by climate change; more frequent natural disasters will affect the world's ability to feed a projected population of nine billion by 2050. At the Rio+20 earth summit and the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Vladivostok, world leaders pledged to eliminate food waste as an achievable solution to enhance their food security.
The scale of this problem in our city is substantial, with an average of 3,237 tonnes of food waste produced daily. That's 0.46kg per person per day. Compare that with South Koreans, who produce 0.3kg per person per day. Yet this waste is avoidable, provided supermarkets, restaurants, schools, fresh food markets and families all commit to prevent food losses at any point from "farm to fork".
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation meeting last year found that food losses in industrialised nations are as high as in developing countries. The difference is that, while more than 40 per cent of such losses in developing countries occur during post-harvest processing, in industrialised countries more than 40 per cent of the losses happen at the retail and consumer end of the food chain.
In our city, food is wasted at home when consumers buy more than they need; supplies are stored improperly; or there is confusion over "best before" and "use by" dates. In Hong Kong, supermarkets and shops try to create an image of "prosperity" and "freshness" by putting excessive amounts of produce on the shelves, which is more than they can sell.