EXPLORING HOUSEHOLD FOOD WASTE ISSUE IN ALGERIA

Abstract

Food losses and waste (FLW) is a phenomenon that has been underestimated, little
studied and poorly documented in the Mediterranean countries. Actually, no
policies, laws, strategies and action plans have been implemented to reduce FLW
in Algeria. This exploratory study aims to evaluate household FW in Algeria. An
online survey with 323 Algerian households was conducted in February-April 2015
to assess the knowledge and relative importance of FW; attitudes towards FW;
impacts of behaviors regarding food and food management; FW quantity and
value; as well as barriers and willingness to behavioral change. Sample is genderbalanced
(54% female and 46% male) and rather young (93% are less than 44 years
old) while most of respondents have high education level. Results show that
household planning and shopping activities are significant forecasters of FW.
Attitudes may change according to periods especially in Ramadan (88% of
respondents declare that FW increase during this month) and to the category of
food (most wasted product groups are fruits and vegetables, cereals and bakery
products). Most of the respondents have a good understanding of “use by” food
date label while they still confuse the meaning of “best before”. It seems that FW is
widespread in Algeria as only 1% of respondents declare that they do not waste any
food. About 15% declare that their households throw away at least 250 g of still
consumable food each week. Even though Algeria is considered as a developing
country, an important part of food wastage occurs at consumer level as in high and
middle income countries. In order to reduce food waste, efforts should be directed
towards providing consumers with skills and tools to deal with their food-related
activities and to better consider the impact of food waste on the environment and
economy.