• A recent British survey indicated that about one-third of the food purchased in the UK is thrown out every year. This is approximately 20 Canadian billion dollars. To tell the truth, British are better than Americans regarding the food wastage. In America, 40 to 50% (almost half) of the food goes to waste. That is 43 billion US dollars.
  
  In Toronto, a single family household produced 275 kilograms of food wastage. About 17.5 million kilograms of food is tossed out every month from the city of Toronto. Food waste amounts to 3.5 billion dollars in Canada.
  
  Reducing the food wastage will impact several things- Environment, social and economical. Imagine developed countries dumping 100 billion dollars into the drain. That’s the economic impact. Around 500 million people are starving each day. They don’t have a proper single meal to eat. If someone says, we are one of the cause, I am not surprised.
  
  By dumping the food, we are increasing the food prices and reducing the affordability of the food. We affect the demand supply chain of the food, hence increases the food prices.
  
  Environmentally, we can cut 25% land fills, use less pesticide, herbicide, reduce the depletion of the soil. We also reduce around 15 million tones of greenhouse gases emitted each and every year.
  
  There are several ways to minimize the food wastage
  
• Please think before you buy.
• A statistic analysis says more food wastage occurs when we do shopping while we are hungry.
• Plan your shopping list and assess your eating habits.
• Perform an inventory check of the food items once in every week. I always check my perishable and non-perishable food items atleast once every week. We list the food we should consume immediately after we done the shopping.Freeze left overs and use later. Cover it-up. A two minute work of proper wraping and storing the food, will ensure you a good taste.
• Back home, we combine the leftovers with other food items creating a new meal. So be innovative.
• Please realize when you waste that 500 million people are starving. 100 million are children and are dieing.
• Please spread this word within your colleagues, families and relatives. Make it a motto “minimize the food wastage”.
• Please teach your children this habit even they are kids. Teach them that food is not an extra-vaganza or a life style. It’s a basic necessity. I always remember the punishments I got when I wasted the food. :-)
  
  In conclusion, following these steps, we can minimize the food wastage and save the environment, and prevent social-economic disasters. Please spread the word.