Waste in the food chain - theoretical background and practical aspects

Food waste is a problem that is particularly relevant in the twenty-first century. According to the data from the Food Banks every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted in the world. This represents a third of the total food production. On the other hand, in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia the scale of waste is much lower and there is a chronic problem of malnutrition or even starvation. At the same time a large part of the population of the EU (including Poles) declare that they are not aware of the situation, do not notice information campaigns and programs that aim to reduce food waste. Struggle with the problem of the twenty-first century should therefore start from the building of attitudes and awareness of individual households and firms engaged in producing and distributing of food. The purpose of this article is to point to the problem of food waste, its causes and manifestations, and to identify possible strategies to combat this phenomenon. The literature review will be supplemented by own research of authors in the field of food wastage in households in Poland. The conclusions from the analysis will be compared with the available data to confirm or reject the universally and widespread opinions on the consumer behavior. Methods used in the work include a critical analysis of the literature and meta-analysis with the elements of deductive reasoning as well as a questionnaire survey of selected group of respondents.