The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Up to half of world’s food goes to waste, report says Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:36 AM PST  It's estimated up to half of all food produced goes to waste. — sxc.hu The world produces about four billion metric tonnes of food a year but 1.2 to 2 billion tonnes is not eaten, the study by the London-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers said. "This level of wastage is a tragedy that cannot continue if we are to succeed in the challenge of sustainably meeting our future food demands," said. In developed countries, like Britain, efficient farming methods, transport and storage mean that most of the wastage occurs through retail and customer behaviour. Retailers produce 1.6 million tonnes of food waste a year because they reject crops of edible fruit and vegetables because they do not meet exacting size and appearance criteria, the report by the engineering society said. "Thirty percent of what is harvested from the field never actually reaches the marketplace (primarily the supermarket) due to trimming, quality selection and failure to conform to purely cosmetic criteria," it said. Of the food which does reach supermarket shelves, 30-50 percent of what is bought in developed countries is thrown away by customers, often due to poor understanding of "best before" and "use by" dates. A "use by" date is when there is a health risk associated with using food after that date. A "best before" date is more about quality - when it expires it does not necessarily mean food is harmful but it may lose some flavour and texture. However, many consumers do not know the difference between the labels and bin food after "best before" dates. Promotional offers and bulk discounts also encourage shoppers to buy large quantities in excess of their needs. Rising population In Britain, about 10.2 billion pounds' (RM48.7 billion) worth of food is thrown away from homes every year, with one billion pounds' worth being perfectly edible, the report found. By contrast, in less developed countries, such as in sub-Saharan Africa or South East Asia, wastage mostly happens due to inefficient harvesting and poor handling and storage. In South-East Asian countries, for example, losses of rice range from 37 to 80 pe rcent of their entire production, totalling about 180 million tonnes per year, the report said. The United Nations predicts global population will peak at around 9.5 billion people by 2075, meaning there will be an additional 2.5 billion people to feed. The rising population, together with improved nutrition and shifting diets will put pressure for increases in global food supply over the coming decades. Rising food and commodity prices will drive the need to reduce waste, making the practice of discarding edible fruit and vegetables on cosmetic grounds less economically viable. However, governments should not wait for food pricing to trigger action on this wasteful practice, but produce policies that change consumer behaviour and dissuade retailers from operating in this way, the study said. Rapidly developing countries like China and Brazil have developed infrastructure to transport crops, gain access to export markets and improve storage facilities but they need to avoid the mistakes made by developed nations and make sure they are efficient and well-maintained. Poorer countries require significant investment to improve their infrastructure, the report said. For example, Ethiopia is considering developing a national network of grain storage facilities which is expected to cost at least $1 billion. "This scale of investment will be required for multiple commodities and in numerous countries, and co-ordinated efforts are going to be essential," the report said. — Reuters |
| Reality TV beauty show viewers more likely to tan: study Posted: 10 Jan 2013 03:33 AM PST  A study found that reality television beauty shows aren't promoting the healthiest views on tanning, which has been linked to a higher risk of skin cancer, especially among young people. — AFP pic The findings, which appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, doesn't prove that simply watching shows such as America's Next Top Model and Toddlers & Tiaras drives people to the tanning booths, researchers said. But it does suggest the shows aren't promoting the healthiest views on tanning, which has been linked to a higher risk of skin cancer — especially among young people. "TV shows might not realize the message they're (promoting) by having all of these attractive, tanned people," said study co-author Joshua Fogel, a health policy researcher at Brooklyn College, part of the City University of New York system. For both skin specialists and primary care doctors, he added, "it's worth asking their younger patients if they do use tanning lamps and outdoor tanning ... especially those that watch reality TV shows." The findings were based on surveys of 576 college students who were in their early 20s, on average. About 61 per cent of them watched reality TV beauty shows. Watching reality TV was tied to both indoor and outdoor tanning. Among people who watched the beauty shows, 13 per cent had used tanning lamps in the last year and 43 per cent had tanned outdoors for more than two hours at a time. In comparison, fewer than four per cent of non-watchers used tanning lamps and 29 per cent tanned outdoors. Not surprisingly, women were ten times more likely to use tanning lamps than men. The researchers didn't ask survey participants exactly what shows they watched, so they couldn't tie specific programs to tanning. "It's very clear that people who are watching (these shows) view this as something positive to do," Fogel told Reuters Health, adding that it's possible the programs may directly encourage viewers to tan because they imply tanned people are cooler and more attractive. "The alternative possibility is the people who are tanned in the first place like watching these shows," he added, perhaps because the characters look more like them. Another study, in The Journal of Pediatrics, found that reality TV viewing was tied to better self esteem among adolescent girls. But the girls who watched the shows also focused more on their appearance. A representative from TLC-Discovery Communications, which airs Toddlers & Tiaras, said the network had no comment on Fogel's findings. Dermatologist Elizabeth Tanzi, who wasn't involved in the study, said the results were consistent with what doctors in the field know about the media's influence. "The images on TV of celebrities, they really do send powerful messages to the masses," said Tanzi, from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery. "And if they are going to the tanning salons and giving the impression that to be beautiful you have to be tan, and that's the ideal, that message is a very powerful one that's going to our young people." — Reuters |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Features To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan