Because of its unique geography, the Middle East is in a vulnerable position when it comes to dealing with dangerous levels of water and food shortages. Its strong reliance on imported food, which can result in extensive to 90% in some nations, has sparked debate over the need for food waste management techniques to protect the region’s valuable natural resources.
According to research, worldwide food loss expenses up to $2.6 trillion every year, with $700 billion in negative externalities and $900 billion in socioeconomic costs.
According to the FAO, the North Africa and the Middle East region wasted approximately 250-kilogram foods per person per year, or roughly a quarter of all food produced. As a consequence of lost or discarded food, the area loses up to 30% of its energy and water. People are thought to be responsible for around 34% of waste, according to experts.
Food waste has negative environmental consequences, including food and water shortages, as well as deforestation, soil degradation, increased greenhouse gas emissions, crop failures, and reduced farmer income.
Meal options Grilled Dinning are Popular IN EGYPTIAN Restaurants And Hotels. “People are building food piles on top of the plates,” explains an Egyptian philanthropist Dr. Moez-El-Shohdi, CEO of Styles Resorts International’s Africa and Middle East branch. “They barely eat 30-40% of what they’ve been given.” The remaining is useless.”
The remains from a small plate may apply insignificant at first, but they quickly build up. According to the Food and Agriculture of United Nations, food loss and wastage account for 30 % of all food consumed globally.
In the Arab world, 34% of foodstuff waste is generated during dining, when uneaten parts are scratched off plates and thrown away.
El Shohdi has worked in the hospitality industry for most of his life. He finds it extremely unpleasant to watch servers discard all those servings of meals. When he ventures out and onto the alleys of Cairo, he observes many hungry individuals, even though garbage bins at restaurants and hotels are overflowing with leftover food. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), almost 15 million people in Egypt do have not enough healthy food to live a healthy lifestyle.
Since March 20th, the Egyptian Food Bank launched a campaign called “Strengthening Day Workers, a Social Responsibility.” The downturn in the economy brought on by COVID-19 has impacted a considerable number of staff and workers, particularly day laborers. The campaign’s goal is to deliver 3,000,000 food boxes day- to day laborers, whose daily routine has been and will continue to be badly impacted more than almost any other group of employees.
The Egyptian Food Bank chose to combine the Iftar same/ Ramadan and Day labor campaigns this year in an attempt to advance a maximum of 3,000,000 people. Creating a variety of slow gestation, educational, awareness, or feeding programs to promote our cause to eliminate hunger problems. In collaboration with reputable, viable collaborators across all industries. After witnessing personally the surplus and there is a need, El Shohdi as well as his co-founders concluded that addressing Egypt’s dual crises of wasted food and rising poverty would necessitate a new method.