Impact of Food Safety on Food Waste and Food Insecurity in Australia

This report investigates the multifaceted impact of food safety regulations on food waste and food insecurity within the context of developed countries, specifically focusing on Australia. The research addresses critical questions, including the environmental and economic consequences of food waste, the potential benefits of food safety programs in reducing waste, and the effects of waste on food security. The literature review highlights the paradox of significant food waste coexisting with widespread food insecurity, particularly among vulnerable populations. The study examines the role of stringent food safety measures and their unintended consequences, such as increased food production and environmental strain. The report emphasizes the need for revised public health policies and highlights the importance of addressing the ecological issues throughout the food chain, ultimately aiming to contribute to the existing body of knowledge by exploring solutions to reduce waste and improve food access for all segments of the population. The research includes a review of relevant literature and concludes with a call for changes to current practices and a contribution to the theoretical understanding of the subject matter.

Impact of food safety on food wastage and food insecurity in
developed countries such as Australia
RESEARCH QUESTION
The aim of this research is to investigate the
impact that the food safety standards have on the
food wasted and the security of that food in
developed countries, as in this case the country
will be Australia. This research is aimed to answer
the following questions:
1. What impact is food waste having on the
environment and economy?
2. How can food safety programs benefit or
reduce the level of food waste in Australia?
3. With so much food being wasted, how is that
affecting the food security of the people in the
economy?
INTRODUCTION
What is Food Safety?
Food safety puts attention into the
production, preparation, distribution
process and the storage of the food
so to prevent illness caused by
mishandling of various foods (Nayak
and Waterson 2017).
Food Waste
In 2016, the Australian Government
decided to start a National Food
Waste Strategy that is predicted to
almost halve the current level of food
wastage. It is estimated that Australia
throws away almost $20 billion worth
of food every year, which equals to
almost 3.1 billion tonnes of food.
These numbers are to be added to 2.2
million tonnes of food that is thrown
away even before it comes out of the
factories in the commercial and
industrial sector.
Food Security
Food security of a person means that
they are able to have access to
sufficient quantity of food which is
both affordable and nutritious.
Literature
Review:Given that Australia is a wealthy
developed nation, there still remains
many people of the population who are
in poverty and can be described as being
food insecure (Lawrence, Richards and
Lyons 2013). It has been estimated that
almost 50% of the food chain is wasted,
that can be represented through the
losses occurred in the farm level and the
food processing stage. These wasted
food has a very negative impact on the
environment which are emissions of
greenhouse gas from the dumps and the
water wasted in producing those foods.
Along with the wastage of food, there is
another looming danger that is hovering
over the lives of the Australian people.
This danger points towards the fact that
there is a high percentage of Australian
people who are not obtaining food to be
able to lead a healthy lifestyle. Food
security refers to the access of foods
that will enable the person consuming it
to lead a healthy lifestyle. The people
who do not have access to such foods
mostly are the Indegenous Australians,
homeless people, or older people who
are living by themselves. The most
common cause of food insecurity is not
having enough funds to lead a healthy
lifestyle, since most junk foods are
usually very cheap and easily available.
There have been food safety measures
implemented at the farm level, however
these stringent regulations have a way
of causing a lot more harm than they
should be. For example, farmers who
wish to sell their produce to
Add your information, graphs and images to this section.
Lindberg, Rebecca, Mark Lawrence, Lisa Gold, Sharon
Friel, and Olivia Pegram. "Food insecurity in Australia:
Implications for general practitioners." Australian
family physician 44, no. 11 (2015): 859-862.
Lawrence, Geoffrey, Carol Richards, and Kristen Lyons.
"Food security in Australia in an era of neoliberalism,
productivism and climate change." Journal of Rural
Studies 29 (2013): 30-39.
Nayak, Rounaq, and Patrick Waterson. "The
Assessment of Food Safety Culture: An investigation of
current challenges, barriers and future opportunities
within the food industry." Food control 73 (2017):
1114-1123.
Thyberg, Krista L., and David J. Tonjes. "Drivers of food
waste and their implications for sustainable policy
development." Resources, Conservation and
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Butcher, Lucy, Maria Ryan, Therese O’Sullivan, Johnny
Lo, and Amanda Devine. "What drives food insecurity
in western australia? How the perceptions of people at
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(2018): 1059.
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Göbel, Christine, Nina Langen, Antonia Blumenthal,
Literature Review:
With the new world order that is in place
for Australian food standards, farmers
are having to produce a lot more than
they used to for them to stay viable in
the economy of food trade (Lindberd et
al. 2015). With this drastic increase in
the quantity of food produced, the
market burdened with an excess of
supply and the environment is suffering
because of all the waste that is
generated. This has had the most
negative impact on the people who are
already in brutal poverty.
There has been a heavy pressure on the
Australian national food regulation
authority as they are now being asked to
reduce the severity of the regulations
that are in place, and are requesting a
review of the health claims legislatives.
There still remains a problem that is not
being fully addressed which is the
scarcity of good food to the Indigenous
populations. Even though a makeup of
the existing legislation will solve some
problems, it still does nothing to address
the biggest concern in the economy
which is the negative environmental
impact of the conventional food systems.
CONTRIBUTION TO
PRACTICEThese papers list the need for a revised
public healthy policy that is able to
address the ecological issues that is
faced by food in all stages of the food
chain. This modification of the clauses
will help the food condition which is
available to the groups of people who
are not able to attain food security.
CONTRIBUTION TO
THEORYThis paper hopes to contribute to the
literatures available by highlighting the
current situation in Australia. The
current existing literature addresses the
current situation where it can be known
that there are huge amount of food
being wasted even though there are so
many people in various groups who are
not able to have any access to good
food. This paradox’s existence is clearly
explained, however their remains a gap
in the literature which addresses what
needs to be done in order to avoid this
situation, and reduce the waste.
REFERENCES