Journal Article

Household Food Waste Quantification and Cross-Examining the Official Figures: A Study on Household Wheat Bread Waste in Shiraz, Iran

Delaram Ghodsi, Shabnam Mohabati, Shiva Faghih, Gholamreza Dehbozorgi, Karsten Schweikert, Shahin Ghaziani, Reiner Doluschitz

2022

Overview

The global consumer food waste (FW) estimates are mainly based on modeling data obtained from governments. However, a major data gap exists in FW at the household level, especially in developing countries. Meanwhile, the reliability of the existing data is questionable. This study aimed to quantify wheat bread waste (HBW) in Shiraz, Iran, and cross-examine the governmental HBW data. Face-to-face waste recall questionnaire interviews were conducted in 419 households from December 2018 to August 2019. A multistage sampling strategy consisting of stratification, clustering, and systematic sampling was employed. Moreover, we carried out a comprehensive document review to extract and analyze the official HBW data. The results revealed that the HBW in Shiraz is 1.80%—the waste amounts for traditional bread and non-traditional bread were 1.70% and 2.50%, respectively. The survey results were compared with the previous official data, revealing a substantial contradiction with the 30% HBW reported between 1991 and 2015. Possible reasons for this disparity are explored in this paper. Although our results cannot be generalized to other food commodities and locations, our findings suggest that considering the substantial likelihood of bias in the official data, policymakers should conduct more FW measurements and re-evaluate the accuracy of the existing data.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,MDPI
• Subject: Bread / Chemical technology / Clustering / Consumption / Developing countries / Estimates / Food / food loss and waste / food loss and waste; food waste accounting and data; food waste index; sustainability; sustainable production and consumption; food waste quantification; global data / Food science / Food service / Food supply / Food waste / food waste accounting and data / food waste index / food waste quantification / Household wastes / Households / Industrialized nations / LDCs / Sampling / sustainability / sustainable production and consumption / Systematic review / TP1-1185 / Wheat