Nowadays, across the globe, more and more people are following an extravagant lifestyle, disposing excessive amount of food every day. While this can be attributed to lack of knowledge to store food items properly and over-purchasing consumerism habits, the problem can be mitigated by prioritizing efficient labeling on food items to teach proper storage and promoting economical consumerism through media.
One factor contributing to a substantial amount of wasted food items is linked with following inappropriate storing ways. Equipment malfunction, such as faulty cold storage or in some cases not paying close attention to the warnings on the labels of produce can cause food to spoil even within hours. As a result, people just prefer to throw away spoiled food in order not to get infected or at least face health related issues. Social media platforms can be another driving factor behind this phenomenon, encouraging extravagant lifestyle among people. Nowadays, on social media apps especially on Instagram people showcase their luxurious lifestyles. Many users, especially influencers and celebrities, post photos and videos of their visits to expensive restaurants, luxuriously laid breakfast or dinner tables, unpacking costly imported products and the like to garner attention from their followers. These can inspire others to do the same- buying more than enough and naturally casting extra food items at the end.
However, there are a number of ways by which the issue can be resolved. One effective measure would be fostering more comprehensible labeling process for food items. If customers are provided with reliable data about keeping food in a correct way through improved labels, less meals will be inadequate to eat, preventing people throwing them away. Another solution is promotion of frugal consumption among individuals through social media. The governments accompanying with journalists or bloggers should take actions to get people aware about negative consequences of wasting food excessively, including lack of resources or global starvation and possible expected savings which can be invested for other important areas of their life. As an outcome, people can give up extravagant consumption habits regarding buying food items, either disposing less food waste or achieving significant savings in their budget.
In conclusion, inappropriate ways of storing food items and the rise of social media which shows over-purchasing habits are the main reason which drives global food wasting. That said, this issue can be tackled effectively by establishing improved labelling on edible products and motivating individuals to acquire frugal consumption to reach financial savings.