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The Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste 2019

The Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste is Canada’s first national research study on food waste and the first of its kind in the world to use primary data from the food industry.

46.5

%

Of all food in Canada is wasted

41.7

%

Of this food could be redirected to support Canadians

23

%

Of avoidable food waste is caused by best before dates from processing to purchase

$58

B

The total value of avoidable food waste every year

PUBLISHED

October 7, 2021

This research is a world first and shows we need to radically change how we value food

UPDATE: read the updated report from 2024.

Nearly 60% of food produced for Canadians – or 35.5 million tonnes – is lost and wasted annually.*

32% or 11.2 million tonnes of that food is edible and could be redirected to support people in our communities.

The total financial value of this potentially rescuable lost and wasted food is a staggering $49.46 billion.

These unprecedented findings are the result of a year-long research project undertaken by Second Harvest and Value Chain Management International, a leading public and industry voice in food waste.

Supplementary material: case study matrix.

More Research

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