Understanding Global Food Surplus and Food Waste to Tackle Economic and Environmental Sustainability

Ching-Hsu Huang, Shih-Min Liu and Nai-Yun Hsu
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Ching-Hsu Huang: Department of Hotel and Restaurant Management, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 91201, Taiwan
Shih-Min Liu: Department of Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung 80201, Taiwan
Nai-Yun Hsu: Department of Hotel and Restaurant Management, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 91201, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: Although food surplus and food waste issues are extremely important, the amount of literature published on these topics is astonishingly low by our observation. The relationships between food surplus/food waste and economic/environmental sustainability have not yet been holistically assessed and discussed. The main purpose of this study is to understand global food surplus and food waste issues in order to tackle the economic sustainability and environmental sustainability crisis. Content analysis was used to analyze 500 relevant materials and was conducted by NVivo 12 Plus software. The results contain seven countries, six organizations, and six continents, providing a framework to recognize the economic and environmental sustainability crisis. In addition, six major organizations and regions were identified and were found to be relevant to the important issues of food surplus, food waste, the sharing economy, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability. With the trend of globalization, this study highlights some preliminary evidence for reducing food waste, for conflicts of the sharing economy, and for regulated sustainability. Further research and regulations in terms of economic and environmental sustainability are strongly suggested.

Keywords: food surplus; food waste; economic sustainability; environmental sustainability; sharing economy; hospitality industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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