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Supermarkets' obsession with perfect produce is causing massive food waste

The UN said this week that if it was reversed, then the wastage could feed the worlds’ hungry.

SUPERMARKETS’ OBSESSION WITH perfect looking produce and the use of arbitrary “best before” labels are causing massive food waste that if reversed could feed the world’s hungry, a UN panel said earlier this week.

Nearly 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year, more than enough to sustain the one billion people suffering from hunger globally, the United Nations food and agriculture organisation (FAO) said.

The energy used growing food that ultimately gets thrown out is the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the world, behind the US and China, FAO said, citing a report on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

At an event on Thursday on food waste, UN and civil society experts said combatting the problem requires key changes in how food is sold.

In many Western supermarkets, only organic sections contain imperfect looking produce, be it curved cucumbers or oranges with bruises on their peel.

Sarah Oppenheimer of the Britain-based campaign group Feedback Global said supermarket chains worldwide reject edible products over “superficial cosmetic imperfections”.

She criticised widespread practices like trimming the ends of green beans, which shops do to make them fit evenly into neat packages — wasting roughly 20% of the vegetable.

Oppenheimer also called for a standardised labelling system, noting the “sell by”, “consume by” and “best before” tags used by stores were confusing and often bore no relation to the actual expiration date of a product.

Food waste in Ireland

shutterstock_394230274 Shutterstock / Photobac Shutterstock / Photobac / Photobac

In May of last year, France’s parliament voted unanimously to ban food waste in big supermarkets.

Under the new law, supermarkets will be forced to donate unsold but edible food to charity, or use it as animal feed or compost.

Here in Ireland, over a million tonnes of food is wasted in the country every year. One not-for-profit organisation called Foodcloud is trying to tackle this waste, by redistributing food to charities.

In Ireland, households spend around €700 on wasted food every year, according to Safefood figures.

Here are some tips for cutting back on wasting food once you do bring it from supermarket to your home.

- Additional reporting Aoife Barry

Read: We’re wasting loads of food, but here’s how to make it last longer>

Read: How does it feel to pitch to Richard Branson for €1.2m? This Irish company is about to find out…

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    Mute IALPA Safety
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    Oct 9th 2013, 4:44 PM

    9 of the 12 Irish MEPs supported the position of the Irish Air Line Pilots Association.
    Europe has disregarded the advice of its own scientific advisors, and missed out on an opportunity to produce scientifically based rules in favour of commercial interests.
    It’s a sad day for aviation safety!

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    Mute Wild Rover
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    Oct 9th 2013, 6:10 PM

    I thought pilots could only fly a maximum of 900 hours per year , why does the above say a reduction from 1300 hours to 1000 hours?

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    Mute gerbreen
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    Oct 9th 2013, 7:37 PM

    What was advice?
    Does this not mean shorter working year for pilots? Good for FTE bad for contract?

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    Mute mike cleary
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    Oct 9th 2013, 3:18 PM

    Once again those unaccountable pen pushers delve into industries they know nothing about, this is bad for passengers and pilots alike. The winners are arsehole airline management who will award themselves bonuses and politicians creating busywork for themselves. All the scientifically based rest and ftl rules go in the bin.

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    Mute Michael Lumley
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    Oct 9th 2013, 5:50 PM

    Pilot can fly for 11 hours, truck driver can only drive a max of 10. Somethings not well thought out.

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    Mute gerbreen
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    Oct 9th 2013, 7:33 PM

    but in fairness no auto pilot on a truck and only one driver

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    Mute Wild Rover
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    Oct 9th 2013, 9:34 PM

    At least if a truck has an emergency just pull over to the side of the road not the same for aircraft . And some air operations are single pilot.

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    Mute Rob O Reilly
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    Oct 9th 2013, 9:59 PM

    And a doctor can work for 36 hours.

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    Mute gerbreen
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    Oct 9th 2013, 10:27 PM

    Commercial airlines have few single pilot. Do ialpa want hours flying even lower … is that why they object?

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    Mute Wild Rover
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    Oct 10th 2013, 12:11 AM

    If you understood what commercial flying is, you would know that all commercial pilots operating with companies with an AOC are bound by JAR-FCL which is the same as airline pilots.

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    Mute gerbreen
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    Oct 10th 2013, 6:20 AM

    You are correct I don’t know the technical definition of commercial as I don’t work in the industry. But as a layman reading the article my take is that iapla want even further reductions and restrictions on flying time which would require more pilots to run a schedule. No doubt a pay cut isn’t part of their plans. Contract pilots likely to increase at progressive airlines. One layman’s view only.

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    Mute richardmccarthy
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    Oct 9th 2013, 4:11 PM

    Have the airline pilots been asked for their opinion on the rule changes and if not why not, judging by their negative reaction it seems not, but now the EU have once again gone ahead and changed the rules without consultation.

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    Mute Right Wing Steve ©
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    Oct 9th 2013, 2:48 PM

    So the cost will just go up

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    Mute Dave Byrne
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    Oct 9th 2013, 6:32 PM

    What people have to remember regarding pilots hours is they are calculated from off blocks (plane pushed off stand) to on blocks plane arrives at the gate.
    You then need to factor in taxi delays ATC flow restrictions,Turn around times of the aircraft and also the pre flight which normally is 1 hour prior to departure+post flight debriefing.

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    Mute divide by zero
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    Oct 9th 2013, 6:29 PM

    Worst case: try driving your family laden car up rough slippery track into your unlit garage at speed on a dark wet night after 11 hours on the road…

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    Mute Conor Convey
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    Oct 9th 2013, 11:31 PM

    I hope the people that brought this in will be on board when the accident happens, pure madness

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