Understanding the factors responsible for wasteful consumer behaviour A study on the catering industry in South Gujarat

Abstract

Food is one on the basic necessity of human being but when it gets wasted either by consumer or by the producer, it becomes a matter of great concern. To meet the global demand of food, it must be saved either at production or consumption level; otherwise, it can turn into a form of loss or waste. Food loss mainly occurs during agriculture, storage, logistic, packaging phase, but once it reached consumer for the final consumption, it turned into food waste. To understand the food loss and food waste ambiguity, proper understanding of food waste definition is required. (FAO, 2013) defined that food waste as the food that was fit to be consumed is thrown or wasted either by consumers or retailers (final stage of supply chain). According to the (Gustavsson et al., 2011), it has been estimated that about 1/3rd of total edible food which is considered fit for human consumption is thrown in a dustbin. There are so many factors responsible for food waste when it is wasted during consumption stage. This study is mainly done to understand the factors responsible for wasteful consumer behaviour in South Gujarat. Food waste is a global concern, which is also responsible for increasing greenhouse gases and damaging the environment, therefore it needs to be handled carefully and cautiously (Garnett, 2014). newline