Nutritional condition and nutrient intake predict moral condemnation of food wasting

Abstract

People believe that food wasting behaviour is immoral. This judgment could be partially driven by increasing awareness of global environmental threats associated with the current scale of food waste. Recent research indicates that moral judgments of food wasting behaviour may also reflect higher levels of food insecurity—potentially serving an adaptive role in harsh environments. In our research, we tested this hypothesis at both the population and individual levels. The study was conducted among individuals from subsistence-economy populations: the Hadza hunter-gatherers (n = 72) and the Datoga pastoralists (n = 70), where levels of food insecurity are higher than in industrialised populations. To infer about food insecurity at the individual level, we analysed body composition, muscle strength, and nutrient intake. We found that individuals who had lower levels of muscle strength and those who consumed less calorie-dense foods judged food wasting behaviour as more immoral. These findings show that food wasting moral judgments reflect the short-term nutritional condition and current nutrient intake. We also found that individuals with greater muscle mass—likely shaped by activities associated with food provisioning—judged food-wasting behaviour as more immoral. The study supports the idea that food wasting moral judgments are shaped by food insecurity and points to some novel social factors that may also influence these judgments.