Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

China’s food loss and waste embodies increasing environmental impacts

Nature Food volume 2, pages 519–528 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Food loss and waste (FLW) hampers global food security, human health and environmental sustainability. However, monitoring and benchmarking FLW reduction is often constrained by the lack of reliable and consistent data, especially for emerging economies. Here we use 6 yr large-scale field surveys and literature data to quantify the FLW of major agrifood products along the entire farm-to-fork chain in China. We show that 27% of food annually produced for human consumption in the country (349 ± 4 Mt) is lost or wasted; 45% of this is associated with postharvest handling and storage and 13% with out-of-home consumption activities. We also show that the land, water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus footprints associated with total FLW are similar to those of a medium-sized country (such as the United Kingdom’s in the case of carbon footprint). These results highlight the importance of better primary data to inform FLW reduction actions and ensure food security and sustainability.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Food flow in China’s supply chain from farm to fork.
Fig. 2: Estimated FLW in China (annual average for the period 2014–2018).
Fig. 3: Comparison of FLW between China and other countries.
Fig. 4: Environmental footprints of FLW in China.
Fig. 5: Environmental footprint scenarios.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

The codes for data processing are conducted in Microsoft Excel 2016 and Matlab (R2020a), and data illustration is generated in Origin 2016 and Microsoft Visio 2010.

References

  1. Foley, J. A. et al. Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature 478, 337–342 (2011).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Tilman, D. & Clark, M. Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature 515, 518–522 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Behrens, P. et al. Evaluating the environmental impacts of dietary recommendations. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 13412–13417 (2017).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Springmann, M. et al. Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits. Nature 562, 519–525 (2018).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Poore, J. & Nemecek, T. Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science 360, 987–992 (2018).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Gustavsson, J., Cederberg, C., Sonesson, U., Otterdijk, R. van & Meybeck, A. Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention (FAO, 2011); http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/mb060e/mb060e00.pdf

  7. Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (UN, 2015); https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org

  8. Circular Economy Action Plan: For a Cleaner and More Competitive Europe (European Commission, 2020).

  9. A Farm to Fork Strategy for a Fair, Healthy and Environmentally-friendly Food System (European Commission, 2020).

  10. Gil, J. Going to waste. Nat. Food 1, 192 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Xue, L. et al. Missing food, missing data? A critical review of global food losses and food waste data. Environ. Sci. Technol. 51, 6618–6633 (2017).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Parfitt, J., Barthel, M. & Macnaughton, S. Food waste within food supply chains: quantification and potential for change to 2050. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 365, 3065–3081 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Dorward, L. J. Where are the best opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the food system (including the food chain)? A comment. Food Policy 37, 463–466 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Chaudhary, A., Gustafson, D. & Mathys, A. Multi-indicator sustainability assessment of global food systems. Nat. Commun. 9, 848 (2018).

    Article  ADS  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Lopez Barrera, E. & Hertel, T. Global food waste across the income spectrum: Implications for food prices, production and resource use. Food Policy 98, 101874 (2020).

  16. Liu, G., Liu, X. & Cheng, S. Curb China’s rising food wastage. Nature 498, 170 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Liu, G. Food Losses and Food Waste in China: A First Estimate. OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers No. 66 (OECD, 2014); https://doi.org/10.1787/5jz5sq5173lq-en

  18. Liu, J., Lundqvist, J., Weinberg, J. & Gustafsson, J. Food losses and waste in China and their implication for water and land. Environ. Sci. Technol. 47, 10137–10144 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Chen, X. et al. Producing more grain with lower environmental costs. Nature 514, 486–489 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Zhang, W. F. et al. New technologies reduce greenhouse gas emissions from nitrogenous fertilizer in China. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110, 8375–8380 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Larson, C. Losing arable land, China faces stark choice: adapt or go hungry. Science (80-.). 339, 644–645 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Ghisellini, P., Setti, M. & Ulgiati, S. Energy and land use in worldwide agriculture: an application of life cycle energy and cluster analysis. Environ. Dev. Sustain. 18, 799–837 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Zhang, H., Duan, H., Andric, J. M., Song, M. & Yang, B. Characterization of household food waste and strategies for its reduction: a Shenzhen City case study. Waste Manag. 78, 426–433 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Wang, L.-E. et al. The weight of unfinished plate: a survey based characterization of restaurant food waste in Chinese cities. Waste Manag. 66, 3–12 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Wu, Y., Tian, X., Li, X., Yuan, H. & Liu, G. Characteristics, influencing factors, and environmental effects of plate waste at university canteens in Beijing, China. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 149, 151–159 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. FAO. The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving Forward on Food Loss and Waste Reduction (FAO, 2019); https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470172506.ch60

  27. How to Cut Food Waste and Maintain Food Safety (US FDA, 2019).

  28. Bräutigam, K.-R., Jörissen, J. & Priefer, C. The extent of food waste generation across EU-27: different calculation methods and the reliability of their results. Waste Manag. Res. 32, 683–694 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Liu, C. et al. Food waste in Japan: trends, current practices and key challenges. J. Clean. Prod. 133, 557–564 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Food Surplus and Waste in the UK—Key Facts (WRAP, 2020); https://wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Food_surplus_and_waste_in_the_UK_key_facts_Jan_2020.pdf

  31. Monier, V. et al. Preparatory Study on Food Waste Across EU27 (European Communities, 2010); http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/pdf/bio_foodwaste_report.pdf

  32. Nahman, A. & de Lange, W. Costs of food waste along the value chain: evidence from South Africa. Waste Manag. 33, 2493–2500 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Food Waste and the Circular Economy of the Food System (in Finnish) (Natural Resources Institute Finland, 2016).

  34. Lemaire, A. & Limbourg, S. How can food loss and waste management achieve sustainable development goals? J. Clean. Prod. 234, 1221–1234 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Song, G., Li, M., Semakula, H. M. & Zhang, S. Food consumption and waste and the embedded carbon, water and ecological footprints of households in China. Sci. Total Environ. 529, 191–197 (2015).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Sun, S. K. et al. Impacts of food wastage on water resources and environment in China. J. Clean. Prod. 185, 732–739 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Li, B. et al. Food waste and the embedded phosphorus footprint in China. J. Clean. Prod. 252, 119909 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Gu, B. et al. Characterization, quantification and management of China’s municipal solid waste in spatiotemporal distributions: a review. Waste Manag. 61, 67–77 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Wen, Z., Wang, Y. & De Clercq, D. What is the true value of food waste? A case study of technology integration in urban food waste treatment in Suzhou City, China. J. Clean. Prod. 118, 88–96 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Hoekstra, A. Y. & Chapagain, A. K. Water footprints of nations: water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern. Water Resour. Manag. 21, 35–48 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Mekonnen, M. M. & Hoekstra, A. Y. The Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprint of Production and Consumption. Vol. 2: Appendices. Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50 (UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, 2011); https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/5146139/Report50-NationalWaterFootprints-Vol2.pdf.pdf

  42. Zhang, H. et al. Anaerobic digestion based waste-to-energy technologies can halve the climate impact of China’s fast-growing food waste by 2040. J. Clean. Prod. 2777, 123490 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Ritchie, H. & Max Roser, M. CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Our World In Data, 2017); https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions

  44. Hammond, R. A. & Dubé, L. A systems science perspective and transdisciplinary models for food and nutrition security. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 109, 12356–12363 (2012).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  45. Dou, Z. et al. Assessing US food wastage and opportunities for reduction. Glob. Food Sec. 8, 19–26 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Willett, W. et al. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet 393, 447–492 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Read, Q. D. et al. Assessing the environmental impacts of halving food loss and waste along the food supply chain. Sci. Total Environ. 712, 136255 (2020).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Damerau, K., Waha, K. & Herrero, M. The impact of nutrient-rich food choices on agricultural water-use efficiency. Nat. Sustain 2, 233–241 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Shafiee-Jood, M. & Cai, X. Reducing food loss and waste to enhance food security and environmental sustainability. Environ. Sci. Technol. 50, 8432–8443 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Piesse, M. The Wasteful Dragon: Food Loss and Waste in China (Future Directions International, 2017); http://www.futuredirections.org.au/publication/wasteful-dragon-food-loss-waste-china/

  51. Food Balance Database (FAO, 2013); http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FBSH

  52. Zhou, Y. et al. Sharing tableware reduces waste generation, emissions and water consumption in China’s takeaway packaging waste dilemma. Nat. Food 1, 552–561 (2020).

  53. Zhang, P., Zhang, D. & Cheng, S. The effect of consumer perception on food waste behavior of urban households in China. Sustainability 12, 5676 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Yang, Y., Bao, W. & Xie, G. H. Estimate of restaurant food waste and its biogas production potential in China. J. Clean. Prod. 211, 309–320 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Emissions—Agriculture Database (FAO, 2017); http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/GT

  56. Mekonnen, M. M. & Hoekstra, A. Y. The Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprint of Farm Animals and Animal Products. Vol. 2: Appendices. Value of Water Research Report Series No. 48 (UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, 2010); https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/5146069/Report-48-WaterFootprint-AnimalProducts-Vol2.pdf

  57. Mekonnen, M. M. & Hoekstra, A. Y. The Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprint of Crops and Derived Crop Products. Vol. 2: Appendices. Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47 (UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, 2010); https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/59480760/Report47_WaterFootprintCrops_Vol2.pdf

  58. Jianyi, L., Yuanchao, H., Shenghui, C., Jiefeng, K. & Lilai, X. Carbon footprints of food production in China (1979–2009). J. Clean. Prod. 90, 97–103 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Cui, S., Shi, Y., Groffman, P. M., Schlesinger, W. H. & Zhu, Y.-G. Centennial-scale analysis of the creation and fate of reactive nitrogen in China (1910–2010). Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 2052–2057 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  60. Gu, B., Ju, X., Chang, J., Ge, Y. & Vitousek, P. M. Integrated reactive nitrogen budgets and future trends in China. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 8792–8797 (2015).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  61. Liu, X. et al. Intensification of phosphorus cycling in China since the 1600s. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 2609–2614 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  62. Cui, S. et al. Changing urban phosphorus metabolism: evidence from Longyan City, China. Sci. Total Environ. 536, 924–932 (2015).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is based upon extensive FLW data collected between 2013 and 2019 by nearly 50 researchers, all of whom we thank for their hard work and dedication. We especially acknowledge (alphabetically) Junfei Bai, Xiaochang Cao, Xiaopeng Chen, Liwei Gao, Peng Hou, Jiazhang Huang, Tai Li, Yunyun Li, Jun Liu, Litao Liu, Yao Liu, Fei Lun, Qi Qin, Lingen Wang, Yu Wang, Liang Wu, Wenbin Wu, Shiwei Xu, Wen Yu, Jinling Zhao, Dan Zhang and Panpan Zhang for invaluable collaboration and the hundreds of student assistants in the field surveys. This work has also benefited from the discussion with Morvarid Bagherzadeh from the Trade and Agriculture Directorate, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and with Concepcion Calpe from the FAO. Sponsors have included the Strategic Priority Research Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA26050200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71233007), the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union (REFRESH, 641933), the National Key Research and Development Plan of China (2016YFE0113100), the China National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents (BX20190326), Oxfam, and WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Li Xue, Xiaojie Liu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Li Xue, Xiaojie Liu, Shengkui Cheng & Gang Liu

  2. SDU Life Cycle Engineering, Department of Green Technology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Li Xue & Gang Liu

  3. Institute of Food and Nutrition Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China

    Shijun Lu & Guangyan Cheng

  4. Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan, China

    Yuanchao Hu

  5. School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Yuanchao Hu

  6. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Junguo Liu

  7. Department of Clinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Zhengxia Dou

Authors
  1. Li Xue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiaojie Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shijun Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Guangyan Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yuanchao Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Junguo Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Zhengxia Dou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Shengkui Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Gang Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

G.L. and S.C. conceived, designed and led the work. X.L. and L.X. coordinated the field study and data collection on consumer food waste. S.L. and G.C. coordinated the field study and data collection on supply chain food losses. Y.H. and J.L. contributed to footprint data collection and analysis. Z.D. enhanced the international comparison and discussion. L.X. and G.L. drafted the paper and drew the figures. All authors contributed to discussing the results and writing the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gang Liu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Food thanks Dabo Guan and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary methods, results, Figs. 1–15, Tables 1–39 and references.

Reporting Summary

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Source data from the model results to generate Fig. 1.

Source Data Fig. 2

Source data from the model results to generate Fig. 2.

Source Data Fig. 3

Source data from the model results to generate Fig. 3.

Source Data Fig. 4

Source data from the model results to generate Fig. 4.

Source Data Fig. 5

Source data from the model results to generate Fig. 5.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xue, L., Liu, X., Lu, S. et al. China’s food loss and waste embodies increasing environmental impacts. Nat Food 2, 519–528 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00317-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00317-6

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing