Some behaviors related to food waste, extravagance, extravagance and extravagance at the expense of the hungry in the world have negative effects on food security, the loss of water and energy used in food production, and may even have a more comprehensive impact on the global climate.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that the amount of food wasted in the Kingdom is about 950 thousand tons of food annually, and thus the loss of 25 million cubic meters of water used in the production of these quantities of food.

And the Jordan News Agency (Petra) monitored the Jordanian efforts to reduce food waste, especially a unique experience in a restaurant and hotel, through which they were able to reduce the sizes of dishes on their open tables to reduce the quantities of excess food, in addition to cooperating with charities to distribute the remaining food to beneficiaries based on their awareness of the implications of these behaviors.

Many charitable societies assume the responsibility of bringing food that is suitable for excess consumption by some families or that left over after banquets that are properly wrapped, taking into account the possibility of communicating with these societies to distribute the surplus quantities.

The head of the Union of Charitable Societies, Omar Shushan, told (Petra) that food production in general has a water and carbon footprint, meaning that wasting food is a waste of water and energy used in the production process, whether agricultural or industrial, pointing to the estimates of the (FAO) organization for the amount of waste in food in the Kingdom. About 950 thousand tons per year, while the per capita share of this waste is about 95 km, except for about 25 million cubic meters per year used in food production.

He added that food waste practices are directly linked to adapting to the repercussions of climate change, especially since Jordan is one of the countries with high water stress, and the need for every drop of water in order to be able to manage demand in an efficient and fair manner in light of the scarcity of water resources.

For his part, the representative of the (FAO) in Jordan, Eng. Nabil Assaf, said that the most prominent efforts of the organization in this regard are to enhance the transfer of knowledge and innovations in agriculture and rural areas, to issue periodic bulletins on the food situation at all levels, to enhance the feasibility and competitiveness of all types of agriculture and to enhance Innovative technologies and sustainable management of agriculture, in addition to raising awareness and developing capacity programs that facilitate collaboration between officials and key institutions concerned with food security such as food loss and waste.

He pointed out that agricultural production is estimated at about $2.2 billion, or about 5.6 percent of the gross domestic product, and about 76,000 Jordanians work in the agricultural sector, which is equivalent to 5.5 percent of the total Jordanian workforce.

In a related context, the engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nada Freihat, said that the ministry launched the “No Food Waste” initiative last November in cooperation with the (FAO) and the World Food Program to help implement the initiative’s activities, which include preparing a study showing the amount of food waste, Organizing media awareness campaigns targeting families, students, restaurants and hotels to promote a culture of innovation in order to preserve food, reduce waste, and encourage young people to come up with creative ideas as a prelude to adopting and embracing them.

She added that the campaign aims to network hotels with charities and cooperate with partner organizations to implement the initiative in order to facilitate the supply of surplus quantities of food to needy families.

A worker in a hotel, Qassem Kafarneh, talked about the open tables that enable customers to refill their dishes repeatedly until they are full, because filling the plate completely and without finishing it will be thrown into the garbage bin, and it is no longer fit for human consumption, hence the idea of ​​minimizing the dishes to control the quantities that may be exposed. to damage.

And he indicated that the restaurant takes a proactive step by preparing an estimated amount of food items, according to the number of people who will attend the table, with a reasonable increase in the quantity, to prevent food waste.

For his part, the Vice President of the Jordan Food Bank, Engineer Talal Al-Fayez, stated that the bank falls under the group of regional banks in the region, headquartered in Egypt. Satisfaction, stressing that educating the citizen of the importance of adopting these practices makes the desired change.

He added, the associations registered with the bank are dealt with on a large scale from the Kingdom by communicating with the bank regarding the presence of surplus food after a specific occasion to deliver food to chaste families, because what is wasted food on some occasions is sufficient for some families for a few days, and cooperation is also taking place with a number of Hotels in Jordan to collect the surplus, repack it and distribute it to needy families.

The Director of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Chef Jack Roussel, presented the Academy’s procedures as an educational institution in trying to make a difference in this situation by setting strict guidelines to achieve a zero-tolerance policy on the principle of food waste, and teaching students how to handle raw food materials from the moment they are received until they are eaten to achieve consistent quantities. The food produced corresponds to the number of its consumers, in addition to the compatibility of the quantity used with the quantities produced.

He pointed out that the students searched for innovative ways to recycle raw ingredients or cooked food. Based on their understanding of the importance of living and working sustainably.

Omar Awwad, head of the Jordanian Restaurant and Sweets Owners Association, said that reducing food waste in restaurants should be one of the main goals of all types of restaurants, which are estimated to be about 18,000 restaurants.

He explained that there are a number of specialized restaurants that prepare food based on a specific menu, and according to the request of customers, which means effectiveness in reducing waste, and on the contrary, some restaurants that deal with preparing food tables or a daily menu are unable to control waste, because cooking preparation requires It takes a long time, which is something that does not satisfy customers, which prompts these restaurants to prepare in advance, unless the restaurants rely on the advance reservation system in a way that makes the task of estimating the quantities to be cooked possible, and then the waste is little.

Al-Awwad pointed to the need to reformulate our consumption concepts, as customers, within repeated scenes, ask for food that exceeds the amount of consumption, and unfortunately it is only for tasting, and here it cannot be recycled or used, which means that we need awareness about the consumption pattern.

Economic analyst Mazen Irsheidat said that Jordan suffers from the problem of food waste, as well as the pattern of excessive consumption. Consumer pattern in Jordan.

And he indicated that with the passage of years and the occurrence of crises such as the Corona pandemic crisis, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and high inflation rates, and the fact that Jordan imports more than 80 percent of its food needs from abroad at high international prices, all of this is supposed to reflect positively on the citizen’s pocket, and begins to change the consumption pattern towards Rationalizing expenses and purchasing quantities within reason.

-(Petra)