Tristram Stuart: The global food waste scandal

Western countries throw out nearly half of their food, not because it's inedible -- but because it doesn't look appealing. Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of wasted food, calling for a more responsible use of global resources.
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[@GrimSoul66]

I got fired from a grocery store because I was eating the food I was supposed to be tossing in the trash. I tried to fight it but it was an easy win for them. Apparently this happens all the time.

[@saramichaelmcfarland9550]

Absolutely incredible! Well done!

[@vandimillilima5930]

Finally someone said it ! I`ve seen it in Brazil and it must stop !

[@xuefeidu5484]

According to the literature about world food economy, the total amount of food produced on the earth is 1.5 times of the amount needed for the whole population well nutritious. So it is the problem of re-distribution of food.

[@wildgolemlord8337]

Xufei Du yes, exactly

[@thegoodlife5205]

Precisely! However, putting this theory into practice is much more difficult than it sounds

[@malsypright]

So potatoes are rejected based solely on size and shape? That's so dumb...I'm sure poor people would love to have such potatoes and wouldn't care! Sell these 'mis-shapen' potatoes for lower prices if they're okay to eat! It's better than the chemistry lab at McDonald's...

[@KankuchoBird]

Interestingly, the bin contents shown at 8:00 feature own brands of the supermarket I regularly harvest on behalf of a local soup kitchen (often with a small cut for myself!). Tristram's depicted 'crop' even contains the same salvaged chcoolate dessert I've just enjoyed with my lunch.

[@Alexi7666]

I work for a Fortune 500 food procressor. The amount of ingredients and finished product that we throw away daily is astounding. It's literally tons per day, right to the landfill. And it's been going on at that pace for decades. The sight depresses me greatly.

[@Lanka_Wildlife]

Fantastic talk. Reading your book slowly.

[@anteeko]

Soo true... I get sick when I see that much food wasted everyday..... I hope your message will be heard

[@Caterwaste1]

Good talk!

[@MELANIE1001]

I know a lot about the food wasted by supermarkets - it's incredibly sad. I can't figure out why it isn't donated to homeless shelters instead of just thrown away.

[@user-ej3cq4gn2k]

Что тут непонятного?? Потому что кто-то может отравиться и были случаи даже с летальным исходом. Потом Вы за это будете отвечать?? Или Вы предлагаете отвечать за это дирекции магазина?? Попасть из за вас фриганутых в тюрьму.. так себе вариант.

[@jpb10]

Very good presentation

[@MASOPIQPerdana]

Its realy inspiring presentation. And make me concern about food that shouldnt become waste..

[@VieEnGreen]

I applaud Tristram Stuart for educating the masses and his action within Feeding the 5000. For those overwhelmed by the idea of going and help salvage perfectly edible supermarkets or farms' foods, remember that you can make a change at your own individual scale. Food waste lives in our homes: only buy what you need and refuse to throw away what you paid for. Remember that YOU worked hard for that money and someone else also did to bring you that salad. So find a way to eat it before it rots :-)

[@xs0ld13rx]

Amazing TEDTalk

[@ferocioustick]

I love scatter graphs! :D Also, why is this video titled TristramStuart 2012S 1500k? I almost didn't watch it because of the title.

[@nickyferguson9063]

hello youtube playing up..hopefully I ended up 'liking this' and thank you for sharing. I have shared on my FB page today..especially in this festive season we need to get the message out 'be the change you want to see in the world' and stop overstocking on food and stop wasting it. Push pressure on those food suppliers to publish their figures on waste and cut back on it. With 15 million dying a year from starvation this is indeed a scandal, thank you in solidarity for this message

[@chrishwk]

My parents drilled into my head as a child that wasting food was a sin, and although I no longer believe in the concept of "sin" I am obsessive about not wasting food. I would have eaten the last three grains of rice before being frowned at, hehe.

[@markgreen]

I met Tristram Stuart a few months ago, and made a short video for the Observer, which is on my channel! Great guy wish him all the best, i believe he's making a difference, listen to what he has to say!

[@52111centrumcz]

I don't know directly about grain, but it can be stored for a year or more. When it comes to stores, I think I know a small bit. I work in a hospital - we got same problems with stocking bandages, syringes, drugs, pacemakers, ICDs, leads and other single use items. On the other hand, I have to admit our stuff has a much longer shelf life then bread has (typically months).

[@xsrox420]

there are always a few ignorant fools who dislike such wonderful presentations... well, I'm from India and here the results of starvation are very evident.. It may not be directly in cause of food wastes but it makes you wonder what can be done to give FOOD FOR ALL.

[@aakrutiraikar4087]

i'm watching the entire playlist of tedlaks...150 seen!!

[@Candyliz2003]

Again, Bravo TED! (Please change the title!)

[@saleemisgod]

This fella is an heroic figure with an heroic message.

[@nahidaakter1391]

that's what I needed to hear!

[@dogfight156]

great vid!

[@mariobranco123]

Thx TED :)

[@cleantones]

indeed. This should have better tags and titles.

[@voidofambition]

very good

[@laluseed]

TED should definitely change the title of this video. Amazing talk and i click on it just because i was bored and at the end i genuinely enjoy it.

[@smalltownescape]

This was a great talk and I almost didn't watch it because of the title.

[@fundip43]

by the way that sort of shipping wouldn't be considered sustainable as well

[@ObeoLtd]

What a great talk.

[@saleemisgod]

Yep.

[@theunknown002]

whats with the title and lack of description?

[@InBradyITrust]

I admire your passion. I think many Native American tribes were very compassionate and appreciative of the animals they hunted for food. While I don't agree with the maltreatment of animals, I certainly won't advocate against killing animals for the purpose of food. What I would advocate, however, is the "waste" of food, and that we should take the steps to reduce waste. When people waste meat, they are allowing the animal to die in vain.

[@Jayremy89]

How much food you think is thrown away from your major grocery food chain stores daily? Notice they never seem to be out morning or night, there is always a surplus and still much of the fruit is pricy as $hit. The cost of food (mainly non-packaged) should be half of what it is here or less, and they have no need to stock as much as they do daily, it ends up being more consumptuous for more trucks on fuel consumption and the food just gets thrown out, with the sometimes wood crates as well.

[@knightof1990]

How scary looking at that wasted bananas while some people in the other part of Africa is suffering from hunger

[@fhhfhdfdhhdhhdfhdf138]

plus people had to waste time/energy growing the bananas in the third world

[@bedonking]

Bravo!!!

[@noahcox2629]

What we don't eat we feed to our dogs or we compost it, never goes in the trash.

[@benedictlego6642]

Correct, more food we waste that's being paid by the buyers that's income for the farmers Corruption and laziness is the reason for lots of people being hungry.

[@VanillaKillaXImWhite]

DOWN WITH FRUIT NINJA WASTES SO MUCH FRUIT

[@dianaalexdaniel]

Wow! What a Waste of Food, it could be Feeding the Homeless, Food Pantry all around will love to have them, thank you so much for sharing this Video, what a Eye-Opener it is, have a Wonderful Day, sincerely, Diana Lipski.

[@gailhowes9398]

I agree with you! it is horrible for the homeless, low income people and why if it is fresh is judged by visually non perfect fruits and vegetables! Why does so many companies think people will not buy unless it is perfect. When I shop for groceries I look for freshness instead of shape.

[@saleemisgod]

They aren't evil in my opinion.The concept that we the consumers will only buy 'standardized' food is a bummer along with our desire for ever increasing novelty of food choices. I personally do not consume certain food products that I disagree with and hardly ever buy more than will be eaten as part of my philosophy that change happens one mind at a time.I think that is a fair enough compromise between convenience and wastefulness.I'm always learning. The bread crusts in the skip is bugging me.

[@lilneedoba8345]

1:29 5:05 11:12

[@Vellwander]

They rather often wait a couple of hours before editing the title in a newly uploaded video.

[@52111centrumcz]

Your initial comment was there is extra food in the shops/stores for some reasons. I said it was there due to inefficiency in management practices in todays world, not for any other reason.

[@52111centrumcz]

Might have to do with them being an agricultural country that exports a lot of food; the proxy measurements he does might not indicate food flows due to market trading over borders.

[@Lemonickous]

Well, to be fair, there are some inherent inefficiencies due to large populations that make distribution mechanisms that much more morbid and racked with corruption. So decreasing population density will probably only do good in terms of improving our logistics.

[@holdmybeer]

Try it and find out, then post it to youtube :)

[@shaiksyarif3791]

WOW

[@MRSketch09]

For some reason this video isn't showing up for me.. only a large black box. Anyone on here use firefox, have this problem happen and know the solution?

[@AcceptSolitude]

Supermarket also don't want to just give away that day old food because then people would just line up outside waiting for them to throw it away.

[@foxylein]

Interesting stats, but who is to blame? The sellers or the buyers?

[@hiitsevelyna8542]

But this video is really good

[@CLEANDrumCovers]

This is depressing.

[@scienceisknolwedge]

How about the waste of food in order to regulate the market price? THIS IS the big motive behind the food waste.

[@user-rz8ve5vz1q]

I have wasted too much food. I hope that people hear his message.

[@Hendrix1326]

Absolutely agree with you there. I suppose my stance has changed slightly on that front, and your body absorbs nutrients better from veggies with lots of fat-soluble vitamins from saturated animal fats, and coconut oil as well. Our ability to process animal protein/fat depends on our background. I wonder if any studies have been done to demonstrate different ethnicities' ability to process different foods, such Pacific Islanders and more fruit, starch, and fats from tropical fruits, etc.

[@siegholle]

excellent - we should mine this opportunity for the common good to move to the age of abundance and common sense as human beings .

[@Talon3000]

Cant watch the video, just black screen Oo

[@ricardomarques8444]

surprising to think that humans will stop wasting food just because they went plant based diet...#stopfoodwaste

[@Timelord2001]

Good food should *not* just be thrown away. But I actually don't see a problem with using it to feed pigs or other animals *if* it would otherwise just be thrown out. Also, waste isn't necessarily waste if it is composted, thereby making topsoil to grow food again. I think the two main things are to make sure everyone in the world gets the nutrition they need, while we minimize *true* waste, where what we discard does nothing of benefit, and then, to keep from doing too much harm to the ecology (especially to the atmosphere, as in global heating) by controlling things like carbon emissions. Within that framework, I actually prefer eating meat from animals that are *not* fed on garbage and foulness, but indeed, on more "real" foods and feeds. I mean, if we enter as an assumption that we won't be able to make the whole world go vegetarian, or even pescetarian, isn't it a good idea to make the meat as clean and safe as possible? Is this not, for example, why we eschew pet foods made with poor quality ingredients like pot ash? Overall then, it would seem better to focus on getting big users like stores, businesses, and ultimately governments and global bodies to adjust how they do things.

[@mastertoad2]

Timelord2001 I think he oversimplified it, to avoid confusing the audience. Scientifically, the 2nd law of thermodynamics says that all energy transfers are inefficient. So, the energy in the animal as well as the feces contain less energy then what was put in. Much of that energy is released as heat. It's the reason why you can't have life without plants- For example, if we had a bunch of cheetahs in a room, they would eventually die due to a need for energy. They can't keep eating each other, reproducing, and so on in a cycle, due to losses in energy through heat.

[@mastertoad2]

Timelord2001 But I see your point, hope my analogy wasn't confusing.

[@wildgolemlord8337]

Timelord2001, I agree with your every word

[@danoesubroto]

Don't waste and educate your kids about it!

[@seungyounkim1960]

Oh my god

[@HaydenLam1337]

00:15

[@52111centrumcz]

Um. its not. Its called inefficiency. It happens when you have assured supply.

[@tinnato]

10:13

[@shoot4thstars]

This should be shown in schools round the world. Maybe the next generation will do something about the waste if it's instilled in them. Like environmentalism is.

[@vanclemmons]

I remembered this Ted talk from 10 years ago, and I wanted to watch it again, so here I am. It had a really big impact on me. Well, 10 years later, where I live, there are _some_ supermarkets which _experiment_ with selling produce that is not pretty. But probably only because Covid happened, and inflation got bad, so people really need to watch their spending. This is where we got in 10 years. I have 0 faith in humanity when it comes to saving the planet, honestly.

[@radhanair6374]

Sir, brilliant vedio. I too made similar documentary vedio on food waste with students for school ISA Actvity Food Wastage. We should seriously think on it. One third of all food produced in the world is never eaten. In food wastage graph, when I saw India below that middle line, I was happy - less wastage. But wastage is wastage, we should really think on it and work out.

[@mattyvern]

TED, Please make some type of response to this comment or fix the title. Others, Vote up if you don't mind so they see it. I see TED as an outlet and conglomerate of new cutting edge ideas, some of which can help us transition from this corporate world we're emerged in. Why did you change the title of this video?

[@Welcome-to-your-life]

I don't want to convince just share information, opinions etc. You are the only person who will decide, but don't decide your life away. Stay open! Peace & love

[@AtheistBaby]

I could Google it, or I could just ask my colleagues who work in these fields, all of whom would not concede your statement that we are close to harnessing ANY of these in any proficient or sustainable way. Most of the processes you listed USE oil in some way anyway.

[@pootages]

Really good video. Slight shame that he couldn't see the obvious saving in not eating meat at all, since that's harmful to animals (extremely cruel - look at any aspect of husbandry), the planet and the poor - he touches on the latter two, and is only done on a whim of taste. Overall, though, something to be learned.

[@Flopsaurus]

Other than feeding the pigs, he didn't give very practical solutions to this...

[@riissanen93]

Butt still, this man sees what others cant or do not want to see, and he has a good point. And meat eating is not unnecessary unhealty if you just don't eat it all the time. Problem with meat eating today is that we tend to over consume it.

[@DarncoL]

Makes me want to go dumpster diving at my local grocery store.

[@creativeganesh]

As an Indian... this comes as culture..

[@52111centrumcz]

Its not a reason for the extra food.

[@52111centrumcz]

actually no; they would have to reduce prices, because people would be waiting to buy the cheap food. So it would paradoxically REDUCE their profit. It would be more efficient; but not for them economically!

[@MarekNowakowski]

i wish our supermarkets throw away more, it would keep standards of food higher ;/ believe me, it sucks when you buy food to find it's substandard compared to what you see in 'cooking' channels from US. waste is a problem, but overdoing it is just bad.

[@Welcome-to-your-life]

...It also possibly lubricates the digestive tract and acts as a "safe harbor" for intestinal flora in times of illness. It may be particularly important early in life because it achieves its greatest development shortly after birth and then regresses with age. ....etc etc

[@antonkidiw3380]

i suppose that supermarkets should have a share system, if food waste exist, better share to beggar around

[@ean5533]

Your focus shouldn't be on "who's to blame", but on "how can we fix this".

[@freesk8]

Free markets leads to abundance. Instead of worrying about how to get the wasted food to the poor who need it, we should be helping people in poor nations to overthrow their own anti-market kleptocratic dictators and adopt liberal market reforms, and defend property rights and entrepreneurship rights for the poor.

[@miskee11]

I live on a budget of about a thousand euros a year, and most of my food comes from dumpsters.

[@villebre1]

hmm

[@MrOnegreen1]

Composting, vegetarian diet, Back To Eden documentary & Allan Savory animal tractor methods all as ways stop waste

[@xrotarebil]

There are laws preventing a lot of this stuff. A lot of food is wasted because there is a risk of being sued over food poisoning. It's crazy.

[@52111centrumcz]

the countries that need food don't have money; also I wonder how much of the corn that is there is used to feed animals (and exported as animal feed to other OECD countries).

[@jonesy5121]

wait when he was talking about the fish, does he mean that they were killed and left out to sea? or just that they were put back alive??

[@NotTheRealJT]

he's really passionate about this, you can tell he gets quite agitated when hes using the 9 biscuits as an example

[@riissanen93]

Still those standards are good starting line. Change is slow and I think it is good to start from those standards. It is VERY unlikely that we humans just stop producing meat and stop eating it. Personally I think that will never happen. It is inevitable that consuming meat goes way down from where it is now. Personally I could leave eating meat and partly I have butt I could not live without fish.

[@Tea-rettes]

Meh, I read a bit of both. I pick up information here and there as is my hobby. My findings in this area have been almost universal. Have you considered the function of the appendix, a rather large and important part of the herbivorous digestive system whith te primary function of breaking down plant matter. In Omnivorous creatures, such as humans, this organ is so unused that, when infected, it is safely removed. In humans, the only function of the appendix is to house useful bacteria.

[@UsernameNULL755]

its a shame comment like yours is top rated on a video so important and interesting.

[@robsatease]

All talk ..look at those clothes ..try washing them ...pressing them, then find out how much work goes into the preparation before you start pointing fingers.

[@rayderisnunezmenieur6400]

The british accent is AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! 😍

[@ramibecharalebfr]

and restauraants

[@saleemisgod]

One of the things about this that bugs me is the inclusion of fish in pet food.What a waste of an increasingly diminishing resource.

[@mrsha007]

And what are those reasons? Land? There are 38 billion acres of land and only 7 billion people. Everyone can get half an acre of land and we'd still have tons of underpopulated area.

[@MRSketch09]

FDA.. law suits, etc.. I'm like you and would take my chances.