What is Food Waste?

The United States of America?s Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) defined food waste as any food substances, raw or cooked which is discarded or intended or required to be discarded. Food waste also can be defined as the organic residues generated by the handling, storage, sale preparation, cooking and serving of foods. Besides, food waste is also an uneaten portion of meals, left lover and trimmings, from the food preparation from restaurant, kitchen and cafeterias. It is a product which is feasible for composting and anaerobic degradation due to its high moisture content.

On the other hand, my personal observation of food waste within my residential areas simply explained food waste as the refuse that being disposed from the kitchen after they have used or unused. Subsequently, I further divided the food waste into two categories which consists of unconsumed food (wastages) and food residue. The food residues refer to organic matters that are not edible which includes bones, fruits skins, seeds and etc. Unlike food residues, the unconsumed food is the food that which edible but uneaten and discarded and it is usually considered as wastage of food. Examples of unconsumed food are rotten meat, expired food and spoiled fruits and vegetables.

Major Types of Food Waste  

From my observation, all of the food waste can be grouped into five major types which include carbohydrates, meats, vegetables, fruits and others. The examples of carbohydrates are rice, noodles, breads and etc. while chickens, fishes, beefs and seafood are categorized under meats. Besides that, the others category of foods include eggshells, raisins, nuts, chocolates, cereals and etc.

On top of that, all these food wastes were also sub-divided into food residues and unconsumed food (wastages). Food residues cover all the bones, fruit skins, eggshells and etc. which are inedible. Meanwhile, the unconsumed foods comprise the materials that are edible regardless that it has been eaten or not but being discarded. The unconsumed food is also known to be food wastage. The examples of unconsumed foods are uneaten vegetables, unfinished breads, expired chocolates and etc.

Source:

1.     Chua, K.H., Yip, C. H. & Nie, W.L.S. (2008). A Case Study on the Anaerobic Treatment of Food Waste and Gas Formation. ICCBT 2008, 29:311-316

3.     U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2011). Food Waste. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/index.htm