PANAJI
“The campaign has been designed to address the importance offood loss and waste reduction issues faced not only in Goa but globally,”states Roland Martins, coordinator, GOACAN.
Pointing out that in 2019, the 74th United Nations GeneralAssembly designated the first International Day for Awareness, afterrecognizing the fundamental role that sustainable food production plays inpromoting food security and nutrition, Martins adds, “During our awarenesscampaign we shall be reaching consumers through the village-based consumerforums and the campus-based consumer welfare clubs to promote an activediscussion on ways to reduce food waste during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Due to problems related to the pandemic (like lockdowns,restricted timings/movement), the consumers in Goa have resorted to panicbuying and stockpiling.
Organisations and experts the world over have identified foodwaste to be caused by the poor purchase and meal planning, excess buying whichmany times is influenced by over-large portioning and package sizes, confusionover labels especially those with 'best before and use by' and the poor storagefacilities in homes. Supermarkets are also confronted with the issue of foodwastage due to some of these reasons.
The campaign hopes to address the issue of food wastage byincreased efforts in awareness and reaching out to the Departments of Food andDrug Administration, Legal Metrology, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs andthe Goa Waste Management Corporation for their co-operation.
GOACAN will also address the issue of food loss by highlightingthe reasons like inadequate storage and problems related to transportationespecially of perishable agricultural produce, such as fruits and vegetables,fish, meat and dairy products which have also affected stakeholders in thebusiness.
“We shall approach the departments of Agriculture, AnimalHusbandry and Veterinary Services, Fisheries, Tourism, bodies like GCCI andTTAG, restaurateurs as well as merchants’ associations to participate in theawareness process by creating opportunities to source information and technicalexpertise to reduce food losses.
During the month-long awareness campaign, GOACAN has invitedconsumers and other stakeholders to send in suggestions on email on ways totackle food loss and waste reduction in Goa to [email protected]
