Roberto CAPONE1,
Hamid EL BILALI1,
,
Philipp DEBS1,
Francesco BOTTALICO1, 2,
Gianluigi CARDONE1,
Sinisa BERJAN3,
Gehan A.G. ELMENOFI4,
Aziz ABOUABDILLAH5,
Laurence CHARBEL6,
Samir ALI AROUS7,
Khaled SASSI8 1Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Rural Development department; International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies in Bari (CIHEAM-Bari), Valenzano (Bari), Italy
2Department of Science and Technology, Parthenope University of Naples, Naples, Italy
3Faculty of Agriculture, University of East Sarajevo, East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
4Agriculture Extension and Rural Development Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Giza, Egypt
5Department of Agronomy, National School of Agriculture of Meknes, Meknes, Morocco
6Department of Geography, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Lebanese University, Fanar, Lebanon
7National Institute of Plant Protection, Algiers, Algeria
8Agronomy Laboratory, National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT), Tunis, Tunisia
American Journal of Food and Nutrition.
2016,
Vol. 4 No. 2, 40-50
DOI: 10.12691/ajfn-4-2-2
Copyright © 2016 Science and Education PublishingCite this paper: Roberto CAPONE, Hamid EL BILALI, Philipp DEBS, Francesco BOTTALICO, Gianluigi CARDONE, Sinisa BERJAN, Gehan A.G. ELMENOFI, Aziz ABOUABDILLAH, Laurence CHARBEL, Samir ALI AROUS, Khaled SASSI. Bread and Bakery Products Waste in Selected Mediterranean Arab Countries.
American Journal of Food and Nutrition. 2016; 4(2):40-50. doi: 10.12691/ajfn-4-2-2.
Correspondence to: Hamid EL BILALI, Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Rural Development department; International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies in Bari (CIHEAM-Bari), Valenzano (Bari), Italy. Email:
elbilali@iamb.itAbstract
Losses and waste of food are high in Arab countries with negative implications in terms of food security and agro-food system sustainability. Cereals are among the most important contributors to caloric energy supply in Arab countries. Despite the fact that Arab countries are net cereal importers they waste considerable amounts of bread. The objective of the paper is to explore the issue of bread and bakery products wastage in selected Mediterranean Arab countries. The paper is based on a literature review as well as an online exploratory survey on household food waste in Mediterranean countries carried out in the period January-May 2015 with 1122 adult consumers in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. Cereals consumption is high in all concerned countries. Wheat is the most consumed cereal in the region and often as bread. Survey results show that cereals and bakery products, mainly bread, are among the most wasted food groups. Bakery products waste reach up to 20% in some surveyed households. Bread wastage is higher during the fasting month of Ramadan. Subsidized bread is used even as animal or fish feedstuff. Bread waste can be presented as a scandal in the Arab world as bread has a prominent place in Arab culture. Therefore, urgent actions are needed to raise the awareness of Arab consumers about this phenomenon. Cultural background should be exploited in awareness campaigns. Moreover, governments should speed up food support policy reform. In fact, bread waste is also wastage of precious public financial resources.
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