Moumita Mazumdar and Rohit Gagal

A bruised mango at a wholesale market. A box of tomatoes that has gone bad before it gets to a retailer. Potato skins piling in a processing plant. Food that remains unclaimed at the end of a busy day. All of these could be considered different types of waste. However, a bigger issue connects them: what happens when food fails to reach the purpose for which it was produced?

Food doesn’t just go from a farm to a plate. It follows an intricate route through harvesting, sorting, storage, transportation, processing, and retail. During this process, the food could get damaged, delayed, disposed of, or changed at every stage. Further, temperature changes can reduce its shelf life. Therefore, careful handling is a must so that food won’t get bruised. Mismatch between supply and demand means some food will be rejected even though it’s still edible. By the time leftovers find their way into a trash bin, the food has already taken a journey from the land, water, energy, labour, and money…read more on NOPR