Casablanca — A new study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) found that nearly half of all food in Morocco goes to waste.
A study by the FAO entitled “Mediterra: Zero Waste in the Mediterranean,” surveyed Mediterranean countries for their food loss and waste (FLW) tendencies and found that in Morocco, 45.1 percent of all food goes to waste.
The study surveyed 2,657 people from across the mediterranean and 122 from Morocco and found that very few (3.3 percent of people in Morocco) say they don’t waste any food. In Morocco, 51.6 percent of people said they wasted very little, 25.4 percent said they wasted a reasonable amount, while 13.1 percent said it wasted more than it should and 6.6 percent said it wasted much more than it should.
“Regarding the category of food,” says the study, “the most wasted product groups are cereals and bakery products, fruits and vegetables.”
The study also looked at the value of food waste generally every month (in U.S. dollars) and found that Morocco 45.9 percent of food that is wasted costs less than $5, 42.6 percent costs between $6 and $20 while, understandably, the pricier food items were less likely to be wasted.
Interestingly enough, the study also found that attitudes changed depending on the time of the year. During Ramadan, for example, 84.8 percent of people declared that food waste is higher in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey “due to the high quantity of food purchased and prepared but never eaten.
In an effort to reduce food waste, Morocco launched a food waste reduction strategy in June 2015, in partnership with the FAO, that aims to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2024.
Source: UN Study: Nearly Half of All Food in Morocco Goes to Waste
