Food Wastage Attitudes among the United Arab Emirates Population: The Role of Social Media

Tareq M. Osaili, Reyad S. Obaid, Russul Alqutub, Rawya Akkila, Ala Habil, Ahlam Dawoud, Serin Duhair, Fayeza Hasan, Mona Hashim, Leila Cheikh Ismail, Anas A. Al-Nabulsi and Sadi Taha
Additional contact information
Tareq M. Osaili: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Reyad S. Obaid: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Russul Alqutub: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Rawya Akkila: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Ala Habil: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Ahlam Dawoud: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Serin Duhair: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Fayeza Hasan: Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Mona Hashim: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Leila Cheikh Ismail: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Anas A. Al-Nabulsi: Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan
Sadi Taha: School of Business Administration, Al Dar University College, Dubai P.O. Box 35529, United Arab Emirates

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: The objective of this study is to evaluate food wastage attitudes and the impact of social media among the United Arab Emirates (UAE) population. A questionnaire was distributed via social network applications ( n = 525). The majority of the respondents were females (84%) and social media users (99%). Most of the respondents were well aware of the problem of food wastage (96%). Half of the respondents (53.7 and 48.8%) reported taking some form of action on an ‘often’ basis to reduce food wastage, and buying food as per their needs, respectively. Two-thirds (66.7%) of the respondents stated that their family did not throw away anything from their last meal. A majority (82.3%) felt uncomfortable upon discarding food. A mixed response was observed in terms of food wastage and social media usage. On one hand, using social media was significantly ( p < 0.05) associated with measuring the exact quantity of ingredients prior to preparation, lower overall family wastage, eating leftovers, and composting. On the other hand, less-frequent social media users significantly ( p < 0.05) had fewer leftovers, checked expiry dates, were more serious about food wastage, and planned to minimize it. Social media should be used with prudence as it may not have a very significant impact on food wastage reduction.

Keywords: food waste; social media; knowledge assessment; households; behavioral changes; composting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1870/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1870/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1870-:d:743423

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().