Society

Tunisia third Arab country in terms of food waste

Lotfi Riahi, the president of the Tunisian Consumer Orientation Organization, disclosed that approximately 14 percent of the food produced in Tunisia is lost between production and sale. The majority of this loss, accounting for between 9 and 10 percent, arises at the consumption level.

According to Riahi, Tunisia placed third in the Arab world after Egypt and Morocco for food waste at the level of private restaurants, with a rate of 16 percent, in addition to wasting 12 percent of food in hotels, and the lack of governance in the consumption of food goods in university and school restaurants.

The head of the organization underlined, in a statement to TAP, that food products are wasted, specifically during the month of Ramadan, during the preparation of meals that surpass the necessities of the family, in addition to the absence of traditions in the recycling of food and in the method of maintaining products, which must avoid errors, during storage and avoid damage.

He added that other factors that lead to wastage of food items include lack of awareness, guidance and culture of rational consumption in our society and failure to adopt ways of storing food materials in containers separated according to their type, and quality, in addition to the absence of a transparent strategy for managing production quantities and methods of disposal of food.

In reply to a question about the most wasted foods during the month of Ramadan, he stated bread is one of the most important foods, with a rate of 16 percent, or the equivalent of 113 tonnes.