Efecto del COVID-19 en el desperdicio de alimentos en los hogares de la ciudad de Loja, Ecuador

Abstract

In Ecuador, before the start of the global pandemic, 939 metric tons of food were wasted per year, whichis equivalent to a loss of 332 million dollars per year. Thus, the present investigation tries to examine theeffect of COVID-19 on food waste in households in the city of Loja during the pandemic. For this analysis,the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equations (PLS-SEM) wereused. The results obtained show that social norms, environmental awareness and COVID-19 have significantvalues and affect food waste in households in the city of Loja. Accordingly, if consumer behavior andhabits had changed before the pandemic, food waste would have decreased. Therefore, it is important topromote food donation campaigns to the most needy people and, on the other hand, make a shoppinglist and create a meal plan to buy and prepare the necessary food and mitigate food waste in the city. from Loja.