The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that nearly one-third of the edible components of food produced for human consumption gets lost or wasted, amounting to about 1.3 billion tons per year globally. If a quarter of this food could be saved, it would feed 870 million of the billion people around the world that go hungry every day.
In the United States 30%-40% of the food supply is wasted annually. This happens at each point along the food supply chain, from the agricultural production to the final household consumption. In medium- and high-income countries, like the US, food waste occurs mostly towards the end of the food supply chain, meaning that it is thrown away even if it is still suitable for human consumption. Despite the colossal amount of wasted food, there is still a need to grow food production by 70% globally before 2050 in order to meet demand as the global population is projected to reach 9.1 billion.