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If food waste could be represented as its own country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China and the United States, according to the UN's environment program.  Each year around 2.5 billion tons of food is lost or wasted each year, leaving roughly 3.1 billion people without sufficient nutritious food to eat. In terms of carbon footprint, the resources needed to produce this wasted food has a carbon footprint of about 3.3 billion tons of CO2.

In this episode of The Science Behind Your Salad, Jane Craigie explores ways that can help reduce the amount of food that is lost, both close to production - from farmers' fields, storage or transport, and food that is wasted from our homes - plus possible charitable and community outlets for excess food.

Jane also discovers some future crops that may also help reduce the amount of food wasted and help to feed those missing out on food: look out for water lentils and sea squirts which could be coming to a plate near you soon. 

If food waste could be represented as its own country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China and the United States, according to the UN's environment program.  Each year around 2.5 billion tons of food is lost or wasted each year, leaving roughly 3.1 billion people without sufficient nutritious food to eat. In terms of carbon footprint, the resources needed to produce this wasted food has a carbon footprint of about 3.3 billion tons of CO2.
In this episode of The Science Behind Your Salad, Jane Craigie explores ways that can help reduce the amount of food that is lost, both close to production - from farmers' fields, storage or transport, and food that is wasted from our homes - plus possible charitable and community outlets for excess food.
Jane also discovers some future crops that may also help reduce the amount of food wasted and help to feed those missing out on food: look out for water lentils and sea squirts which could be coming to a plate near you soon.

The Science Behind Your Salad shines a spotlight on the innovation, technology, digital and sustainability for healthy food made by BASF in Agriculture.

The Science Behind Your Salad shines a spotlight on the innovation, technology, digital and sustainability for healthy food made by BASF in Agriculture.

The Science Behind Your Salad

Food Loss and Food Waste

Our volatile climate will impact the way we cook and the way we eat. And so, farming needs to adapt, eating needs to adapt, and how we cook, will also need to adapt.

In this episode of the Science Behind Your Salad, Jane Craigie explores the world of carbon farming: how can we grow better? How can we eat better? How can we feed ourselves with the climate in mind?

For chef and best-selling author Alejandra Schrader, that’s simple! A little more thought and a little more planning can enable us to eat delicious, healthy food that has delivers all the required nutrients we need, and reduces our impact on the planet.

As BASF’s Marko Grozdanovic states, agriculture is responsible for 17% of greenhouse gas emissions, and so this episode explores ways to dramatically reduce this figure.

Jane attended the Carbon Exchange event in Paris to find out more: Andy Beadle is a soil scientist who studies the way carbon can be locked up in the soil to maintain soil health, cut emissions and improve biodiversity; Robert Racz works on the Better Pork project that looks at ways to cut emissions in the pig industry, not just at source, but at all levels of the supply chain, with all links in the industry playing their part ; Thierry Laval runs the FoodPilot initiative that relies on data to focus on the problem. Data is vital to crack the challenges farmers face and with everyone working together to move the industry in the right direction there is plenty of optimism that farming can play it’s role in providing us all the food we need to be able to cook delicious and healthy food for the future whilst also ensuring what we eat is sustainable.

Our volatile climate will impact the way we cook and the way we eat. And so, farming needs to adapt, eating needs to adapt, and how we cook, will also need to adapt.   In this episode of the Science Behind Your Salad, Jane Craigie explores the world of carbon farming: how can we grow better? How can we eat better? How can we feed ourselves with the climate in mind?   For chef and best-selling author Alejandra Schrader, that’s simple! A little more thought and a little more planning can enable us to eat delicious, healthy food that has delivers all the required nutrients we need, and reduces our impact on the planet.   As BASF’s Marko Grozdanovic states, agriculture is responsible for 17% of greenhouse gas emissions, and so this episode explores ways to dramatically reduce this figure.   Jane attended the Carbon Exchange event in Paris to find out more: Andy Beadle is a soil scientist who studies the way carbon can be locked up in the soil to maintain soil health, cut emissions and improve biodiversity; Robert Racz works on the Better Pork project that looks at ways to cut emissions in the pig industry, not just at source, but at all levels of the supply chain, with all links in the industry playing their part ; Thierry Laval runs the FoodPilot initiative that relies on data to focus on the problem. Data is vital to crack the challenges farmers face and with everyone working together to move the industry in the right direction there is plenty of optimism that farming can play it’s role in providing us all the food we need to be able to cook delicious and healthy food for the future whilst also ensuring what we eat is sustainable.

Carbon conscious cooking for the future

Whether we’re buying a punnet of fruit, a freshly made burrito or a can of tomatoes, we take it for granted that the food is safe and free of any biological or chemical contamination.

There are a host of food laws, regulatory bodies and food inspection schemes, as well as guidance on food preparation in our homes, to make sure that our food is safe.

In this episode of the Science Behind your Salad, Jane meets Professor Louise Manning, a food system and safety researcher, Eric Kimunguyi, from AAK Grow in Kenya and Andrew Stirling, a potato farmer and processor from Angus in Scotland to understand the different aspects of food safety around the globe.

Whether we’re buying a punnet of fruit, a freshly made burrito or a can of tomatoes, we take it for granted that the food is safe and free of any biological or chemical contamination.
There are a host of food laws, regulatory bodies and food inspection schemes, as well as guidance on food preparation in our homes, to make sure that our food is safe.
In this episode of the Science Behind your Salad, Jane meets Professor Louise Manning, a food system and safety researcher, Eric Kimunguyi, from AAK Grow in Kenya and Andrew Stirling, a potato farmer and processor from Angus in Scotland to understand the different aspects of food safety around the globe.

Food Safety

There is a huge variety of grains, from quinoa to spelt, from bulgur wheat to pearl barley, from barley to rye. Barley used to feed livestock and used in whisky distilling are found right on Jane Craigie’s doorstep in Aberdeenshire.

In this episode of the Science Behind Your Salad, Jane meets the growers and distillers as they strive to produce the crop sustainably.

She meets Graeme Cruikshank from the award winning Aberlour distillery, Nicola Wordie who has supplied the distillery with barley in the past, Andrew Booth who farms sustainably with a large Anaerobic Digester on his farm and we also hear from Horta, a subsidiary of BASF, striving to improve yields in a part of the world where barley for beer is vital.

There is a huge variety of grains, from quinoa to spelt, from bulgur wheat to pearl barley, from barley to rye. Barley used to feed livestock and used in whisky distilling are found right on Jane Craigie’s doorstep in Aberdeenshire.
In this episode of the Science Behind Your Salad, Jane meets the growers and distillers as they strive to produce the crop sustainably.
She meets Graeme Cruikshank from the award winning Aberlour distillery, Nicola Wordie who has supplied the distillery with barley in the past, Andrew Booth who farms sustainably with a large Anaerobic Digester on his farm and we also hear from Horta, a subsidiary of BASF, striving to improve yields in a part of the world where barley for beer is vital.

Food Loss and Food Waste

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