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This book examines policy responses to food waste and loss, an issue of significant, global concern, with one-third of food produced for human consumption lost or wasted.Investigating food waste and loss under an interdisciplinary lens, the contributors employ a variety of methodological approaches, including quantitative and qualitative techniques, drawing on in-depth case studies and action research. The volume is organised into four parts: Understanding Food Loss and Waste, International Programmes, National Policies and Local Initiatives. The first part introduces the reader to the concept of food loss and waste, how it can be measured, its causes and consequences, and how it can be reduced. The second part is dedicated to international and cross-country case studies, with six chapters reviewing national policies implemented in France, Italy, Romania, Japan, China and the United States. In Part Four, three chapters are dedicated to local food recovery and redistribution initiatives. By focusing on different territories and different levels of governance, the book provides a detailed evaluation of food loss and waste policies, the barriers and opportunities of implementing the policies, as well as the impact they are actually having. The chapters are both descriptive and evaluative and draw out lessons for designing, implementing and reforming programmes.This book will be of great interest to students and scholars working on food waste, food policy, sustainable food systems, agricultural production and supply chains and public policy, as well as policymakers involved with developing and implementing programmes and policies to regulate and reduce food waste and loss.

This comprehensive handbook represents a definitive state of the current art and science of food waste from multiple perspectives.The issue of food waste has emerged in recent years as a major global problem. Recent research has enabled greater understanding and measurement of loss and waste throughout food supply chains, shedding light on contributing factors and practical solutions. This book includes perspectives and disciplines ranging from agriculture, food science, industrial ecology, history, economics, consumer behaviour, geography, theology, planning, sociology, and environmental policy among others. The Routledge Handbook of Food Waste addresses new and ongoing debates around systemic causes and solutions, including behaviour change, social innovation, new technologies, spirituality, redistribution, animal feed, and activism. The chapters describe and evaluate country case studies, waste management, treatment, prevention, and reduction approaches, and compares research methodologies for better understanding food wastage.This book is essential reading for the growing number of food waste scholars, practitioners, and policy makers interested in researching, theorising, debating, and solving the multifaceted phenomenon of food waste.

Anthropocentric thinking produces fractured ecological perspectives that can perpetuate destructive, wasteful behaviours. Learning to recognise the entangled nature of our everyday relationships with food can encourage ethical ecological thinking and lay the foundations for more sustainable lifestyles.This book analyses ethnographic data gathered from participants in Alternative Food Networks from farmers'markets to community gardens, agricultural shows and food redistribution services. Drawing on theoretical insights from political ecology, eco-feminism, ecological humanities, human geography and critical food studies, the author demonstrates the sticky and enduring nature of anthropocentric discourses. Chapters in this book experiment with alternative grammars to support and amplify ecologically attuned practices of human and more-than-human togetherness. In times of increasing climate variability, this book calls for alternative ontologies and world-making practices centred on food which encourage agility and adaptability and are shown to be enacted through playful tinkering guided by an ethic of convivial dignity.This innovative book offers a valuable insight into food networks and sustainability which will be useful core reading for courses focusing on critical food studies, food ecology and environmental studies.

This textbook equips students with the ability to analyze and think critically about contemporary food topics. A thorough introduction to the sociology of food and eating, the book also acts as a primer to the discipline of sociology more generally. Chapters start with a'common sense'assumption about food which students frequently encounter in their own lives or in the mass media. Topics include family meals, ethnic cuisines, cooking skills and convenience foods, eating out, food waste, and'overpackaging'. Anne Murcott shows how systematic academic research approaches can allow students to move beyond'conventional wisdoms'to examine sociological perspectives on food and eating. Key sociological concerns such as class, gender, age, ethnicity, power and identity are also introduced, accompanied by a wide range of examples from around the globe. By the end, readers will be able to think more critically and to apply sociological approaches to questions about food and society. Introducing the Sociology of Food and Eating is an essential introductory textbook for students in sociology and food studies. It provides readers with a solid basis for success in their studies - and with a new understanding of their own attitudes to food and eating.

Different factors have contributed to what is known as the Contemporary Food Paradox. To express this more graphically, let us say that more than a third of the food in the world is wasted while almost 800 million people suffer extreme malnutrition. Now the Millennium Goals'deadline expired, we must set the targets for the Sustainable Development Goals for the next decades. Many national and international organizations point out the imperative need to give an adequate reply to this paradox. Food waste has important economic and environmental implications and, in addition, there is an undeniable ethical and social justice aspect. Beyond the figures of hunger and malnutrition, mothers, the unweaned, and small children die prematurely and young people experience a deficient physical and mental development. All these people, members of our human family, oblige us to recognize their inherent dignity as human beings and their equal and inalienable rights. In this work, academics from fifteen countries and different disciplines discuss proposals and strategies in order to respond to the desire for a world without waste or food poverty.