Abstract
Food waste occurs at all stages of the food chain, but it is households in developed countries that have the largest share in the production of food waste. In order to develop and implement effective programs to combat consumers throwing away food, the factors that determine food waste in a household must first be known. The purpose of this study was to assess the risk of food waste by Polish consumers and identify the effect of demographics on the respondents’ behavior related to food management. The results show that factors such as age, gender, place of residence, and education influence consumer behavior in terms of food management at home. It was found that young people and those with university-level education were more likely to buy unplanned products and waste food. The causes of the risk of wasting food were identified and their frequency determined. The most common causes for the risk of food waste include food being spoiled, missing the expiry date, and failure to arrange food in cabinets according to the expiry date. Bread was the most frequently wasted product, especially by young respondents.
Highlights
With the dynamic developmental changes and the universal globalization of food markets, what remains a constant value for humans is satisfying the basic physiological needs, understood, among others, as the right to free access to safe food
Missing the expiry date depended on the place of residence (p = 0.000) and education (p = 0.019), while preparing too much food depended on the place of residence (p = 0.000)
The results of our study indicate that people with university-level education are more likely to waste food, e.g., because the expiry date was missed, and to pay more attention to the observance of storage conditions
Summary
With the dynamic developmental changes and the universal globalization of food markets, what remains a constant value for humans is satisfying the basic physiological needs, understood, among others, as the right to free access to safe food. Changes in lifestyle are observed in the direction of the spreading idea of consumerism and the increasing popularity of nutritionally irrational behaviors. As Abdelradi [1] claims, there is no commonly agreed definition of food losses and food waste (FLW). One definition describes food waste as the surplus of traded food leads to its waste in the stages of retail sale, catering and households, which is understood as a reduction in the weight of food that was destined for consumption by humans [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
