What Is Missing in Food Loss and Waste Analyses? A Close Look at Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Markets

Ren Jie Zhang, Brian Lee and Hung-Hao Chang
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Ren Jie Zhang: School of Finance and Accounting, Fuzhou University of International Studies and Trade, Fuzhou 350202, China
Brian Lee: Department of Agricultural Economics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 24, 1-13

Abstract: Food loss and waste (FLW) has been the subject of significant research, with recent empirical evidence analyzing the determinants of FLW in many different countries. Much of this literature examines FLW at the farm, food processing, and consumer level. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study thus far has addressed this issue at food wholesale markets. This paper fills this knowledge gap by examining food loss at fruit and vegetable wholesale markets. Using a dataset with individual auction transactions from Taiwan, we examine the extent to which average daily market prices, product quality, and disaster shocks are associated with food loss. Results point to a negative effect of daily market prices on food loss. Furthermore, disaster shocks can lead to greater food loss, particularly typhoons. These effects are heterogeneous across the distribution for the weight of food loss.

Keywords: food loss and waste; wholesale market; fruit and vegetables; auction market; disaster shocks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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