consumers wasting more than a large car worth of food yearly

titled “ fixing food 2021: an opportunity for g20 countries to lead the way ,” the authors of the report — a collaboration between the economist intelligence unit (eiu) and the barilla center for food and nutrition (bcfn) — analyzed a subset of the food sustainability index (fsi). established in 2015, the index measures the sustainability of food systems across the three aforementioned pillars.

canada may have come out on top — along with a handful of other countries including japan, australia, germany and france — but as katarzyna dembska, researcher and nutrition advisor at the barilla foundation, underlines in an interview with the national post , it’s all relative.

if the world is to meet the un’s sustainable development goals by 2030 — which it is currently not on track to do — “food systems need transformational change, which in turn requires leadership,” martin koehring, regional lead (emea) for sustainability, climate change and natural resources at the eiu, said in a webinar announcing the report. “we need bold action, clear commitments,” added dr. marta antonelli, head of research at bcfn.

coinciding with vast quantities of food being lost or wasted all along the supply chain, world hunger has increased. as a planet, we produce enough food, says dembska, yet between 720 and 811 million people faced hunger in 2020 — roughly 161 million more than 2019 — according to the recently released “ state of food security and nutrition in the world ” report. the zero hunger finish line has moved further away; achieving sustainable development goal no. 2 in less than a decade presents even more of a challenge.