Feeding is one of the primary needs of the human being. Modern life allows you to have available all types of food available under different formats, either by home delivery, fast food, to carry or enjoy it in a restaurant and/or purchase in a large warehouse, the market, street stalls and/or stored in the homemade pantry.
Obviously no one can run out of eating and that is one of the great comforts of today, no doubt. Let’s review what this implies in terms of sustainability, profitability, survival, health, ecology, environment and health.
It all starts with all the work, energy consumption (irrigation, pumping, facilities, processing, distribution, transport, cooling) and the high cost involved in altering the environment to exploit soils and feed the cattle; destroy with thousands of hectares, eliminate any vestige of biodiversity and exhaust natural and water resources in increasingly extensive areas due to demographic explosion.
In each food consumption they come – implicit – millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions, chemicals, fertilizers cancerigenic he5thlets that are used without control in the field to precisely meet the demand for daily food.
An orange juice required 170 liters of water to produce it; Your coffee cup about 140 liters; A dozen eggs needs 2,400 liters; Each kilo of meat consumes 15,500 liters, while reaping a kilo of corn spends almost 1,000 liters to take it to your table.
Even more, 1 liter of single bottled water implies wasting another 5 liters for washing, filling, cooling, packaging and production. Thus, make your numbers and multiply it by the billion human beings who do the same every day.
Reflecting more deeply you will discover that the waste of food has become a growing trend that implies greater consequences and that it is pressing much greater extent a series of side effects that begin to pass the invoice and are decisive in the perspective of guaranteeing human survival and the planet.
Although still 15% of the world’s population does not even eat sufficiently and that more than 40% do not have access to drinking water in the minimum health conditions, what is wasted is increasing.
The decrease and the food dump begins from cultivation and distribution; 115 million tons Annual fruits, vegetables, vegetables, dairy, cereals, grains, legumes and meats are going to the trash in Mexico are barely obtained, it is estimated that this represents up to a 34% of the national food production.
To refine the data, just from that first discard could eat about 10 million people. Avocado, potato, tomato, beef, fruits, chicken, pork and fish, cold meats, shrimp and dairy constitutes most discarded foods.
The available statistics are (should be) a hard recrimination; From what reaches the market, 45% of fruits and vegetables are wasted, 35% of all fish and shellfish; 22% of legumes, 35% of all cereals (including tortillas, breads and cookies) and 22% of beef, more 25% of dairy products and their derivatives.
Thus, here we reach a total debt of excessive energy consumption, soil pollution, water, air; On exploitation, dispersion of harmful pollutants, methane emission and carbon dioxide, heating, desertification, drought, extinction of species and waste to end in the trash.
The consequences on the health that all this has, low quality foods, full of heavy metals, not so clean water, conditions and diseases and – you would not believe it – poor nutrition.
Indeed – despite everything – it eats badly, the stomach is filled, but you do not receive the necessary vitamins, minerals and proteins, consuming in excess fats, sugars, flours, chemicals and conservatives.
The discarded food ends in open -pit todges, sewage channels and dumps rotting and contributing to the emission of gases such as methane, bad odors, diseases, insect pests, more and even more serious health problems.
All arguments are valid, there is no time, the roles have changed, the demands of work, the rhythm of life, convenience, price, preferences, that everyone eats as they can, better or think. Something can be done, even minimal:
1. Responsible purchase. Only what is necessary, what you can keep and what you really are going to consume. Plan, carry a list and keep updated an inventory of your stocks.
2. Don’t get carried away and keep control of your hoarders. Surely if you purify and order your refrigerator and your pantry, many of your excesses will come to light.
3. A little custom recipes. Foods prepared at home to carry, with a little organization and good programming is possible, it is for your health and care, and it is good for your economy.
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