The Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste: Update

The cost of food has grown, but the value we place on food has not.

The Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste: Update is a follow-up to Second Harvest’s ground-breaking research published in 2019 that quantified food waste in Canada by examining the entire value chain.

It shows that the overall amount of food waste produced by the food system has declined by 20%, but avoidable food waste — food that could be eaten by people — has gone up by 6.5%.

Canada is currently experiencing an affordability crisis. The fact that so much food is being wasted before it even gets into the home needs to be addressed by government, industry and the public.

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We produced this report because we believe that what gets measured gets managed. This report provides actionable solutions to stop unnecessary food waste, which in turn will help increase access to food and reduce needless environmental harm from greenhouse gases and water depletion.

These findings are the result of an in-depth research project by Second Harvest and Value Chain Management International.

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