In my belief, the initiative to tackle food wastage taken up by the government of France is indeed a commendable one. In fact the UAE is in dire need of such anti-food-wastage policies, especially during the month of Ramadan, when food wastage reaches its pinnacle!

Over the years, there have been innumerable reports on how supermarkets, even in big and bustling metropolitan cities, often grow insensitive towards the health and hygiene of consumers and fail to replace expired commodities for consumption most common of them being food-stuffs.

Albeit the concern over expiry of the food products is justified, the hassle often begins even before it reaches the shelves of your nearby grocery story. The very root of the menacing problem lies in the poor deliveries to the market.

Food products such as fruits and vegetables sometimes arrive at the market in poor conditions either due to the poor packaging or the long-journey it takes to reach the destination. Trucks and other transport used are very often overloaded, which adversely affects the food produce, such as fruits or vegetables, which requires to be stored and transported in a specific manner.

People also scatter germs when handling or testing food for freshness. This ultimately leads to a quicker rotting process, and aggravates the quality of foods.

Recognizing these issues and realizing that future repercussions could be devastating, the need of the hour is to put forward solutions. In my opinion, supermarkets have to be urged to have stricter checks while loading food-stuffs into the market and at the same time create incentives for supermarkets donating food to charities and food banks. A noteworthy example is the US, where supermarkets who donate unused and unsold food receive a 10% discount on their income tax. 

Food wastage  IS a crime as it is stealing away food from the plates of the poor and needy and placing onto the plates of the shrewd and greedy!