According to studies, 30% of all food in the United States, worth US$48.3 billion, is thrown away each year. To add to the woes, it is also estimated that about half of the water used to produce this food also goes waste, since agriculture is the largest human use of water.
Food waste has remained a topic of great environmental, economic and social concern in the United Kingdom and has varying responses from the government. The global issue has been identified as a huge problem and has been the subject of ongoing media attention since 1915. In order to find a solution to food wastage, a campaign called "Love Food, Hate Waste" was also launched in 2007.
Canadians are among the world’s most well-fed people - so much so that they waste almost billions of dollars worth of food a year. According to studies, Canada wastes $27 billion worth of food a year
According to a study conducted by the University of Stuttgart in 2012, private households, industry, retailers and the catering sector discard almost 11 million tonnes of food waste in Germany each year.
It is reported that about 4.5 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in Australia. A research done by the Australia Institute showed that Australians throw away about $5.2 billion worth of food every year.
According to estimates, in Denmark, the percentage of food wasted by Danes is 660 kilograms each person per year. The major areas of food wastage in Denmark are waste in households, catering centers etc.
In Norway, about 3,35,000 tonnes of all the food being produced is ending as waste. Large amounts of food waste is undesirable for environmental, ethical and economical reasons.
Dutch households are known to waste a lot of food. It is estimated that food wastage in this country is approximately forty kilos per person every year.
Urban households in Malaysia account for most of the food wastage. It is estimated that Malaysians throw away close to one million kilograms of food from their kitchen every day.
Restaurants and retail sector in Finland waste around half of the food created in the household levels. Studies suggest that vegetables, homemade food and dairy products are among the most wasted food in the country.