Policy Focus for Food: Ensuring the security of food production and consumption systems, including food waste: Sustainability dimensions of the food cycle.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations in 2018 , it was estimated that about 1.5 billion tonnes of global food was wasted or lost, which accounted for approximately one third of total food production. Wasting food means wasting water and energy, since producing, processing and consuming of food contribute to about 70% of total global water withdrawn and 30% global energy consumed.

The CE components of food focusses on two aspects - food security, i.e. ensuring reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food; and food loss, i.e. food that is wasted during its both production and consumption cycles, including food production, processing transportation, sales and preparation stages.

Current estimates of food loss/food waste point to almost 50% of all food prepared worldwide being unconsumed and resulting in significant resources, including energy, water, land, being waste - besides the food itself creating further waste that needs energy to dispose, and methane and CO2 emissions to contend with.

Food policies in a circular economy need to focused on ensuring the security of food production and consumption systems, including reducing food waste. This would call for a revamped understanding of the sustainability dimensions of the food cycle.

FEWW Strategies for Food Systems Sustainable food practices are central to minimizing environmental degradation, ensuring food security, and promoting health and well-being. Sourcing: Organizations can prioritize sourcing food locally and from sustainable farms to reduce transportation emissions and promote local economies. Emphasizing organic, regenerative agriculture, and fair-trade suppliers can also enhance sustainability. Production Efficiency: Restaurants and food producers can adopt precision agriculture, reduce food waste in the supply chain, and use sustainable packaging. Reducing Food Waste: Develop systems to track and minimize waste at all stages?production, processing, and consumption. Surplus food can be donated to charities, and food scraps can be composted to reduce landfill waste. Healthy Eating: Encouraging plant-based diets and reducing the reliance on resource-heavy animal agriculture can lower the overall environmental footprint.

Revamping the food cycle - agriculture production systems, distribution storage and sales ["farm-to-plate" startegies] lies at the core of improving food security. A circular economy would contribute to food security and reduction of food loss, by -

• developing food production and food loss assessment methodologies and tools
• developing tools to measure and reduce food loss along every stage of the food cycle value chain, from farmer to consumrer
• using innvoative smart technologies for agricultural production and procesing, including eco-labelling and tracking
• improved food handling, packaging and logistics

Grow Sustainably! Waste Less!

These three SDGs aim to end hunger and malnutrition, promote sustainable agriculture, and reduce the negative impact of the food system on the environment.