FOOD WASTE: Wasteful Britons throw out £15 BILLION of food every year,

• By Ruki Sayid

18 Oct 2013 18:48

Wasteful Britons throw out £15 BILLION of food every year, new research shows

Published in  Mirror News 18 Oct 2013 18:48

Experts say that despite rising food prices, British households are still buying and cooking far more food than we can eat

Wasteful: British households throw out £15billion of food a year

More than £15billion of food is binned every year, with households wasting an average £572 of produce.

And a poll found half of us chuck unopened food if it is past the “best before” date.

The shocking figures come as a food bank charity revealed the number of needy people relying on handouts for survival has tripled in a year.

A study supported by Love Food Hate Waste found on average, each household throws out £572 worth of food a year with ready meals, fresh meat and fruit juices the most likely to be dumped.

Worringly almost half of families admitted unopened packs of food ended up in the bin as they had gone past their best before date.

A similar number confessed they cooked too much and threw out the surplus instead of using the leftovers to create another dish or freezing them.

The research for technology giant Samsung paints a picture of a nation divided into the food haves and have nots with the West Midlands named the food waste capital of Britain.

Households there dump £731.64 of food a year - enough to make up 73 Red Cross food parcels for families struggling to make ends meet.

Hunger: Volunteers sorts through donations of food at the Trussell Trust in London.

AFP

Londoners are in second place with £659.36 worth of food thrown away and the North East third, wasting £632.84 of food.

The Trussell Trust, which runs 400 food banks across the UK, said it handed out supplies to more than 350,000 people between April and September this year - three times more than last year.

Experts say we are guilty of over-shopping and despite rising food prices, are still buying and cooking more food than we can eat.

The survey of 2,000 adults found eight out of 10 did not realise eggs can be frozen by cracking them open and putting the yolk and egg white into an airtight container before freezing.

Emma Marsh, head of Love Food Hate Waste said: “There are simple steps we can all take to cut food waste, such as making better use of our fridges and freezers.”

It will be publishing a detailed report on Britain’s food mountain next month.

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