Let's reduce food loss (food loss)!
Updated: June 10, 2022
What is food loss (food loss)?
“Food loss” refers to food that is still edible but is discarded as garbage.
In Japan, approximately 60% of food is imported from overseas, but approximately 6.12 million tons of food is discarded annually (estimated by the Ministry of the Environment in 2017), with a breakdown of approximately 2.84 million tons. The remaining 3.28 million tons are generated by food-related businesses from general households.
Regarding food loss, one of the targets of the "Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" stipulated in the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" adopted by the United Nations in September 2015 The plan includes a goal to halve per capita food waste worldwide by 2020, and Japan has set a goal of halving food waste generated by households by 2030 compared to 2000 levels. .
Let's practice efforts to reduce food loss by keeping in mind "Don't waste food again" !
Main efforts to reduce food loss
About half of food loss occurs at home.
The main causes are the following three points.
- Direct disposal : Discarded as it is after the expiration date/expiration date has passed.
- Leftovers : Uneaten and thrown away.
- Over-clearing : edible parts discarded during cooking.
Reducing food loss is good not only for the environment but also for household budgets.
Please take this opportunity to practice!
1 Let's understand the deadline display correctly!
When buying food, we tend to choose foods with a long expiration date, but if you want to use up the food immediately, why not start with products with a short expiration date?
"expiry date"
It is about "the expiration date when you can eat deliciously" . It is often displayed on foods that can be stored for a long time.
Even after the expiration date, it doesn't mean you can't eat it right away.
For food that has passed this limit, judge it individually based on its appearance and smell.
"Expiration date"
"The period when it is safe to eat" .
It is often displayed on foods whose quality deteriorates quickly.
It is safer not to eat anything past this.
2. Don't buy too much, don't make too much, and eat up!
If you buy too many ingredients at a bargain price, or if you forget to check the refrigerator and buy the same ingredients, you will end up throwing away the ingredients without using them up.
Check the stock of food such as refrigerators and shelves before going shopping.
In addition, food loss can be reduced with a little ingenuity, such as making only the amount of food you can eat, using the skins and cores of vegetables in cooking, and not peeling the skins too thickly.
In addition, we will post the "Food Loss Diary" created by the Ministry of the Environment and the Consumer Affairs Agency and the "Tokyo Food Loss Zero Action" created by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as content that allows you to investigate food loss that occurs at home. , please take advantage of it.
For details, please see the following websites of the Consumer Affairs Agency and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Challenge in 7 days! Food loss diary (PDF: 11,732KB)
Let's count! Food loss at home (PDF: 3,458KB)
Tokyo food loss zero action (PDF: 4,645KB)
We act about food loss reduction (Consumer Affairs Agency) (external link)
3 Take advantage of the food drive!
It is a volunteer activity to bring leftover food from homes and offices and donate it to welfare groups and facilities.
For details, please see the following page.
From the perspective of reducing food loss and reducing the burden of waste disposal, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries encourages food-related businesses to donate unused food to food banks. We are working to collect information on food products used and disseminate this information all at once to food banks nationwide.
If you are having trouble disposing of unused food, please refer to the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries below.
4 Practice the “3010 (Sun Maru Ichimaru) Campaign”!
The "3010 (San Maru Ichimaru) Campaign" is a campaign to reduce leftovers by eating at your own seat for the first 30 minutes and the last 10 minutes of a banquet or dinner at a restaurant.
In addition, the Consumer Affairs Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of the Environment have created a "Guide to eating deliciously when eating out" , so we will guide you as follows.
Please take advantage of it.
Delicious "eat up" guide when eating out (PDF: 1,398KB)
reference
Food loss portal site (external link)
Food loss reduction national movement (NO-FOODLOS PROJECT) (external link)
Eliminate food waste project (external link)
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (formerly Adobe Reader) is required to open PDF format files.
If you don't have it, you can download it for free from Adobe.
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
Inquiries about this page
Inagi City Urban Environment Development Department Living Environment Division
2111 Higashi Naganuma, Inagi City
Phone: 042-378-2111 Fax: 042-377-4781