“Fortunately most of the factors that lead to food waste can be easily remedied by simple changes in food buying, preparing, and storing,” said the study’s lead author Gustavo Porpino, PhD candidate at the Getulio Vargas Foundation and visiting scholar at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.
For the study, in-home interviews were conducted with the mothers of 20 lower middle class families from two suburbs of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to collect information about each family’s shopping, cooking, and disposal practices. Each family was also observed and photographed preparing, eating, and disposing of food.
Based on interviews and in-home observations, the researchers determined that the practice that resulted in the most food waste was simply buying too much food, followed by preparing food in abundance. Leaving foods on dishes after meals or not saving leftovers, and decaying of prepared foods after long or inappropriate storage were also significant factors that resulted in disposal of foods. Furthermore, the researchers found that strategies that are intended to save money, such as buying in bulk and shopping monthly—rather than more frequently—and cooking from scratch, actually contributed to the generation of food waste and ultimately did not result in savings.
