LOVE FOOD, DONT WASTE

FACT: According to UNDP – United Nations Development Pro- gram, about 40% of food is wasted in India.
ACT: Request all to make a conscious effort to stop wastage of food – cooked or raw.
Five more facts that we believe will drive us in the right direction.
1. While India and other developing nations struggle to feed all the population, its an irony that this much of food is wasted and not a lot of people know about this.
2. This is not just a matter of a few lakhs of rupees. If food is wasted, there is so much waste of water used in agriculture, manpower and electricity lost in food pro- cessing industries and even contributes to so much of deforestation that occurs be- cause of this sector.
3. Taking the above into consideration, the actual worth of money per year in India from food wastage comes to a whopping 58,000 crore.
4. According to a survey by bhook (an organization working towards reducing hunger) in 2013, 20 crore Indians will sleep hungry at any given night. About 7 mil- lion children died in 2012 because of hunger / malnutrition.
5. The urban Indian is increasingly wasting more food over the years and recently contributing to about 35% of all food wasted in India.
Five things we can do in our daily life to stop food wastage.
1. Make it a habit not to waste any food in your plate while you have your food – be in breakfast, lunch or dinner. Make it a point to absolutely stick to it no matter how the food tastes or was served in the first place.
2. If you cook at home, make sure you cook keeping in mind there is no excess. You can always complete your lunch / dinner with a few fruits rather than keep some extra food in the refrigerator – its a lot better and a healthier practice.
3. If you cook at home, make sure your select your vegetables , cerials and others in the order of their shelf life. Just means, if you had spinach in your refrigerator for a while longer than other vegetables – take care to use spinach. The more you keep it, you possibly wont use it later.
4. If you work in a company / office that has a canteen – check with them on how they manage excess food. Cooked food, especially since it has a low shelf life needs

to be managed better and faster. Check with NGOs who offer to transport excess food to the needy.
5. If you host a family get together either at home, a marriage hall or throw a party at a hotel – make sure you plan for the food to be transported to a place like an orphan- age / old age shelter. There is no better thing than sharing your happiness with these people as well.
Your mother may have said a lot of times not to waste food. Please do follow this now, no matter if you had followed it until now or not! Please share and pass this message along to your friends and family.