Abstract
Food waste has a great impact on food and nutrition security, the environment, and global, regional as well as national economies. However, little is known about the associated nutrient loss embedded in wasted foods, especially in developing countries, with Lebanon being a case in point. The present paper uses data gathered from a survey of 250 households conducted in Beirut, Lebanon, in which respondents filled 7-day food waste diaries in order to investigate the drivers of food waste generation at the household level and its dietary content. The results show that food waste is approximately 0.2 kg per capita per day in urban Lebanon. This wasted food contains on average 451.2 kcal, 37.5 g carbohydrates, 14.9 g protein, 2.9 g dietary fiber, 2.4 μg vitamin D, 165.2 mg calcium and 343.2 mg potassium. Furthermore, a Tobit analysis of the socio-demographic and behavioral drivers of food waste generation was conducted. This analysis shows that being the sole homeowner, spending more on food, having a larger number of household members, being ready to eat everything prepared, and tending not to buy special offers, significantly increases household food waste generation, at least in terms of physical weight. This is the first study conducted in Lebanon and the Middle East aiming at investigating food waste, and the associated nutrient loss as well as the drivers of food waste generation at the household level. This work could help provide evidence for policymakers to address both food and nutrition security issues in Lebanon.
Highlights
Food waste and food and nutrition security are gaining an increasing amount of attention among both researchers and policy-makers in both developed and developing countries, all the more so given the growing world population
In order to investigate the determinants of food waste and nutritional losses, we chose to explain (1) food weight wastes, and (2) caloric losses, by the set of all variables that we have found in the literature to be related to food waste generation
The loss of calcium was estimated at 165.2 mg/day (Table 4) and the results showed that 61.7 percent of calcium loss came from the wastage of dairy products
Summary
Food waste and food and nutrition security are gaining an increasing amount of attention among both researchers and policy-makers in both developed and developing countries, all the more so given the growing world population. Food loss and food waste accompany every stage of the food supply chain, with more than 35 percent of overall food losses occurring in both the retail and consumption sectors [1, 2]. While food loss refers to a decrease in mass (dry matter) or nutritional value (quality) of the food that was originally intended for human. Household Caloric & Nutrient Losses associated with Food Waste
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