In August, the Food Security Ministerial Meeting (FSMM) will be held in the northern city of Trujillo, La Libertad region —within the framework of
At the future meeting, adopting the principles to prevent and reverse food loss and waste is expected.
Ambassador Carlos Vasquez, Chairman of the APEC Peru 2024 Senior Officials' Meetings (SOM Chair), underscored that it will be a very important gathering since international agencies warn about this problem.
"Several international agencies, particularly the FAO, have determined that food loss and waste are equivalent to 34% of all food production and the food supply chain," he said in remarks to Andina news agency.
In the case of Peru —he indicated— the situation is even more serious and reaches 47%, which means almost half of the food gets lost or wasted.
The diplomat indicated that food gets lost from the moment it leaves agricultural producers until it reaches supermarkets, which he deemed as "absolutely ironic" in a country hit by childhood anemia.
Inadequate cold chains, excessive delays in transportation, as well as the large amount of food that restaurants dispose of are some of the causes that explain the problem.
"It is a global phenomenon, it does not only occur in this country, but in the case of Peru the waste reaches exorbitant levels," Vasquez warned.
Therefore, he said, establishing clear goals on food security and approving a document that will contain a series of principles and recommendations are expected at the Trujillo meeting.