Bread is the food most often thrown away by Moroccan households surveyed in a new study, putting a daily staple at the top of the country’s household food-waste problem.
The findings challenge the idea that food waste is mainly a problem among wealthier families; researchers found no statistically significant link between household income and the amount of food discarded.
The study suggests that what happens inside the home from how much food people buy and prepare to how they store it and deal with leftovers may matter more than how much they earn.
Published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, the study surveyed 442 people responsible for buying, preparing or managing food in their households in Kenitra province.
Researchers compared waste across several food groups, including bread, vegetables, fruit, meat, fish and dairy products. Bread ranked highest among the foods participants said they threw away, while meat and fish recorded lower levels of waste.
The researchers linked bread’s position partly to its role as a daily staple and its tendency to lose its freshness quickly.
Meat and fish, meanwhile, are generally more expensive, which may encourage households to buy and use them more carefully.
Wasting bread also means wasting the resources used to produce it, including agricultural land, water and energy, as well as the transport and processing needed to get it to consumers.
The study found that having more money to spend on food does not necessarily mean producing more waste. Household habits may be more important.
Buying more than needed, preparing excessive portions, storing food improperly or failing to eat leftovers in time can all leave households with food they no longer use.
The research was based on data collected between January and June 2022 and relied on participants’ reports rather than researchers weighing the food actually thrown away.
The researchers said expanding the study to other regions and social groups could provide a broader picture of food waste in Morocco.
Measuring the actual quantities discarded could also help determine the financial and environmental cost of the problem.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.