Mismanagement causing food wastage in Thailand, says FAO
Pratch Rujivanarom
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- RESTAURANTS say the proper management of fresh-food storage would ensure low food wastage in keeping with this year's World Environment Day theme of promoting responsible consumption.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has stated that Thailand is wasting its food supply through mismanagement during its journey from the field to the consumer.

Surin Kamsor, a supervisor of the Bar B Q Plaza restaurant at Central Ramindra, said most of its leftover food was vegetables but the waste was limited, as only one trash bag was required per day.

"We don't have much food wasted in our restaurant because we can store leftover meat in the freezer so it can be used the next day, but a small amount of vegetables are binned because we use fresh vegetables every day," Surin said.



Little leftover food

The owner of grilled-meat buffet restaurant Lukchum Mumtuk in Chiang Mai, Suchai Chanseaneekorn, also said that there was only some leftover food after customers finished their meal. "It is not very much because if the customers leave too much food, they are fined," he said.

"We manage the vegetables and meat just enough for the day, and the leftover fresh food is used the next day, except vegetables," Suchai said.

"Intensive labour is required to produce food, so we should not waste it," he added.

Rosa Rolle, FAO technical coordinator of the Save Food Campaign, said food loss and food waste were the main issues for Thailand because of improper management of food products from the field to the consumers, causing valuable food to spoil.

According to information from the Office of Agricultural Economics cited by the FAO, 30 per cent of agricultural goods are damaged during transport and stocking because of inadequate storage and lack of proper transport and |post-harvest technologies. Internationally, one-third of food products are wasted during the production process and irresponsible consumption.

Rolle said there was still no exact figure on how much food is wasted at the consumer level but unfinished food on dishes was easily seen in restaurants.



UNEP theme

The United Nations Environment Programme came out with this year's World Environment Day theme of "Seven Billion Dreams, One Planet, Consume with Care".

UNEP emphasised on its website that if the trend of over-consumption remained unchanged, by 2050 when the world population will increase to 9.6 billion, we would need three planets to sustain our needs sufficiently.

Isabelle Louis, deputy director of the UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said it was time for people to change by shifting their consumption patterns towards goods that use less energy, water and other natural resources, and by wasting less food.

"We look forward to the people of Thailand joining many around the world in this endeavour and inspiring each other with their actions. World Environment Day is an opportunity for all of us to realise our responsibility to care for our planet and become agents of change," Louis said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Mismanagement-causing-food-wastage-in-Thailand-say-30261731.html

-- The Nation 2015-06-06

Store left-over meat in the freezer......always a good option when it's been frozen and defrosted several times!!

What is it these days , from some NZ-landers to the world bank and now FAO and others coming out of the woodwork to critisize Thailand . Are they pestering the 200 other nations where this happens too ?

Yes but Thailand is ahead of many other countries, refrigeration is easily accessible but Thais still insist on using cool boxes and ice, add up to as much as refrigerator over time and yes food handling and waste is a problem,

Store left-over meat in the freezer......always a good option when it's been frozen and defrosted several times!!

righy !

Some don't even know the difference between a freezer and a refigerator.

From the headline, I had assumed that this would be yet another thread about the rice-scheme, and the conditions in which the expensive rice was stored !

Hundreds of thousands of tons of food wasted there, perhaps the UN should have spoken up ?

Maybe they should reuse the food people leave on their plate? That is what Le Roy has done for years in the Restaurants he owned in America

He made a lot of money, and more by claiming waste on tax forms

I think Thais and other Asians as a matter of fact do a better job at not wasting food compare the west where there are strict standard of how long a food can be kept etc. I don't think this report is such a big deal here.