ArticleThe Science of the total environment2020
Assessing the environmental impacts of halving food loss and waste along the food supply chain.
Article in The Science of the total environment, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 212 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fruit Seeds with Functional Applications: From Food Waste to Potential Uses.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The Piggy Solution: Harnessing Food Waste for Sustainable Hog Farming.Global challenges (Hoboken, NJ) · 2025Review
- The Global Environmental Benefits of Halving Avoidable Consumer Food Waste.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- External financial and monetary policy shocks: Do they matter for Korean macroeconomy?Heliyon · 2024Article
- The Valorization of Wastes and Byproducts from Cruciferous Vegetables: A Review on the Potential Utilization of Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Broccoli Byproducts.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Lactic acid production byFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2024Article
- An overview of fermentation in the food industry - looking back from a new perspective.Bioresources and bioprocessing · 2023Review
- Potential Energy and Environmental Footprint Savings from Reducing Food Loss and Waste in Europe: A Scenario-Based Multiregional Input-Output Analysis.Environmental science & technology · 2023Article
- Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of a Localized Food System and Food Waste Reduction in a Water-Scarce Region Using Diet Optimization Models.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Exploring Factors and Impact of Blockchain Technology in the Food Supply Chains: An Exploratory Study.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Optimization of food-energy-water-waste nexus in a sustainable food supply chain under the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study in Iran.Environment, development and sustainability · 2023Article
- Utilization of Food Waste and By-Products in the Fabrication of Active and Intelligent Packaging for Seafood and Meat Products.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Valorization of polyphenolic compounds from food industry by-products for application in polysaccharide-based nanoparticles.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Review
- Sustainable Management of Food Waste during COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights into Irrational Food Hoarding among Chinese Citizens.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Exploration of Food Security Challenges towards More Sustainable Food Production: A Systematic Literature Review of the Major Drivers and Policies.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Quantifying and categorising national extinction-risk footprints.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Upcycled foods: A nudge toward nutrition.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- The Food-Materials Nexus: Next Generation Bioplastics and Advanced Materials from Agri-Food Residues.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2021Review
- Food Waste along the Food Chain in Romania: An Impact Analysis.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Domestic Use Simulation and Secondary Shelf Life Assessment of IndustrialFoods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is widely recognized as an important lever for lowering the environmental impacts of food systems. The United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda includes a goal to reduce FLW by 50% by 2030. Given differences in resource inputs along the food supply chain (FSC), the environmental benefits of FLW reduction will vary by stage of the FSC. Here, we identify the points along the supply chain where a 50% FLW reduction could yield the largest potential environmental benefits, assuming that decreases in consumption propagate back up the supply chain to reduce production. We use an environmentally extended input-output (EEIO) model combined with data on rates of FLW to calculate the scale of the total environmental impacts of the U.S. food system resulting from lost or wasted food. We evaluate the maximum potential environmental benefit resulting from 50% FLW reduction at all possible combinations of six supply chain stages (agricultural production, food processing, distribution/retail, restaurant foodservice, institutional foodservice, and households). We find that FLW reduction efforts should target the foodservice (restaurant) sector, food processing sector, and household consumption. Halving FLW in the foodservice sector has the highest potential to reduce greenhouse gas output and energy use. Halving FLW in the food processing sector could reduce the most land use and eutrophication potential, and reducing household consumption waste could avert the most water consumption. In contrast, FLW reduction at the retail, institutional foodservice, and farm level averts less environmental impact. Our findings may help determine optimal investment in FLW reduction strategies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.