A Revisit of Plant Food Waste Along Food Supply Chains: Impacts and Perspectives

More than one billion tons of the food produced in the world ends up being wasted every year, accounting for about one-third of the food produced globally. For this reason, the problem of food waste management has been the focus of the different actors intervening in the food supply chains, who recognize that food waste has not only environmental but also economic and social impacts. This review focuses on foods of plant origin wasted at different stages of their life, namely primary production, transformation/processing, transportation, sales, catering and the domestic level. It addresses the subject from multiple angles, considering the environmental, economic and social perspectives. The review was based on a search carried out within scientific databases, for example, ScienceDirect, Scopus and the Web of Science. The results highlighted that in the generation and management of food waste from plant origin, there is a clear difference between developed and developing countries, with these last showing higher losses in production, principally the transportation and storage of the foods. Contrarily, in developed countries, excess food produced and not consumed is the strongest contributor to food waste. Valorization of agricultural waste and industrial residues for application into animal feed or agricultural fertilizers, or through the recovery of valuable compounds for industrial purposes, are some of the ways to deal with food waste while generating additional economic value and reducing environmental impact. However, there is still a need to modify processes and behaviors to reduce food waste and improve the sustainability of supply chains. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct research to identify and report food waste so that stakeholders can contribute positively to solving this problem.