It is widely known that Malaysia is a foodie’s paradise. But did you know that the food-loving Malaysians are wasting an alarming amount of food everyday?
According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Nogeh Gumbek, 15,000 tonnes of food is wasted daily, including the 3,000 tonnes that is still fit for consumption.
Just in case you didn’t know, 15,000 tonnes is equivalent to 1.5 million bags of 10kg rice!
“Research conducted by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) shows that 28.4% of the padi produced is wasted. As for fruits and vegetables, 20% to 50% is thrown away,” said Nogeh during the “MySaveFood” forum on Tuesday (24th May).
He also added that the increasing food wastage, especially during festive seasons like Chinese New Year and Hari Raya, should be controlled. The government and MARDI are currently conducting several programmes nationwide to educate the public on the consequences of food wastage.
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) senior enterprise development officer Dr Rosa Rolle said that the Food Loss and Waste (FLW) Standard would be launched next month to address the country’s food wastage issue.
“The FLW Standard will enable a wide range of entities, countries and other regions to account for and report in a credible, practical and internationally consistent manner, how much food loss and waste is created and identify where it occurs, thus enabling the targeting of efforts to reduce it,” said Rosa.
According to Bernama, the development of the standard was being coordinated by the World Resources Institute, the Consumer Goods Forum, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
The “MySaveFood” forum was a joint effort by FAO and MARDI aimed to create awareness about food life cycle and food waste reduction.
