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Why so much food is wasted in the UAE

By Shruthi Nair

The UAE aims to reduce food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030. 

“There is not much time left so we are working with speed to meet those targets,” said Khuloud Hasan Al Nuwais, chief sustainability officer of Emirates Foundation, which runs the national food loss and waste initiative Ne’ma.

Food waste in the UAE is much higher than other developed nations. Globally, 10 million pounds of cosmetically imperfect food is thrown away, a lot of which ends up in landfill. 

Some 38 percent of the food prepared every day in the emirates is wasted, rising to around 60 percent during Ramadan, according to the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence.

Al Nuwais and her team at Ne’ma are looking at promoting local sourcing as well as healthy living, pushing people to consume more vegetables.

“Not just the lovely-looking vegetables but also the odd-looking ones as they tend to go to waste. Many of them are perfectly edible and taste the same” she said. 

Watch the full video to understand why food waste in the UAE is high and what steps can be taken to reduce it.

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