Global Environmental Issues: Food and Agriculture Education to Address Food Loss and Waste, Aiming at a Sustainable Supply Chain

Abstract

It is estimated that during FY 2018, food waste of 25.31 million tons and food loss of 6 million tons occurred in Japan. Of this total amount, 3.24 million tons of waste was generated from business, including the food manufacturing, wholesale, retail, and restaurant industries, and 2.76 million tons of waste was generated from households. Thus, it is crucial to mitigate both upstream and downstream food loss. As consumption patterns greatly influence not only downstream but also upstream food loss, special emphasis must be placed on increasing consumers’ awareness of this global issue, and several programs have been initiated to this end. Our research reveals that alongside awareness, enhancing consumers’ skills is of vital importance to efficiently reduce downstream food loss. Additionally, business operators must invest in improving the skills of those in charge to mini-mize food loss in commercial setups. Educating both consumers and businesses with the requisite skills to lessen food loss is equally essential. The authors are developing impactful serious games to help impart such education. These include a vegetable supply chain game (Veggie Mart Game), where consumers are players, and a milk supply chain game (Milky-Chain Game), where businesses are players. This paper introduces the authors’ current research on reduction of food loss.