Food losses and waste - Checking facts of Food Movements Unite
"Food losses in the field (between planting and harvesting) could be as high as 20-40% of the potential harvest in developing countries due to pests and pathogens (Kader, 2005). Postharvest losses vary greatly among commodities and production areas and seasons. In the United States, the losses of fresh fruits and vegetables have been estimated to range from 2% to 23%, depending on the commodity, with an overall average of about 12% losses between production and consumption sites (Capellini and Ceponis, 1984; Harvey, 1978; Kader, 2005). Kantor et al (1999) estimated the U.S. total retail, foodservice, and consumer food losses in 1995 to be 23% of fruits and 25% of vegetables. In addition, losses could amount to 25-50% of the total economic value because of reduced quality (Kader, 2005). Others estimate that up to 50% of the vegetables and fruits grown end as waste." (UNEP, 2009) ^Found on page 31 "...losses in small-scale fish processing are said to be particularly high and figures as high as 40 percent are sometimes reported." (Akande and Diei-Ouadi, 2010) ^ Found on page 2 Akande, G., & Ouadi, Y. (2010). Post-harvest losses in small-scale fisheries: case studies in five sub-Saharan African countries. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Nellemann, C., & MacDevette, M. (2009). The environmental food crisis the environment's role in averting future food crises. Arendal, Norway: UNEP/GRID-Arendal.
Source: http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1798e/i1798e00.htm http://www.unep.org/pdf/FoodCrisis_lores.pdf