2026-09-09 · Food calories / mass, schematic
A third of food never becomes a meal
Grow it, ship it, stock it, cook it — and still lose a third. Some disappears between farm and shop. More is thrown away in kitchens, canteens, and stores.
Roughly a third of all food produced worldwide is never eaten by anyone. About 13% disappears between harvest and the shop shelf; another 19% is thrown away in homes, restaurants, and stores. Every lost tonne carries the water, land, labor, and emissions that went into producing it — for nothing.
1 cell = 0.1% of food produced (0.1% of food produced) · 1,000 cells
Context
The grid splits the loss in two. FAO estimates about 13% of food is lost after harvest, before it reaches retail, while the UNEP Food Waste Index puts waste at the consumption stage — households, food service, and retail — at about 19%. The two figures use slightly different bases, so the grid is schematic rather than a precise accounting.
The numbers draw on FAO's Food Loss and Waste Database, the largest online collection of food loss and waste data. As of January 2026 it held almost 40,000 data points from 167 countries, covering 296 commodities and compiled from more than 700 publications and reports.
It is a live database, continuously validated and expanded — it grew by more than 2,400 data points in 2025 alone — and FAO ties the work to SDG 12.3, the UN goal of halving food waste and cutting losses along supply chains.
FAO: ~13% of food lost between harvest and retail. UNEP Food Waste Index: ~19% of food available to consumers is wasted (households, retail, food service). Remainder treated as eaten. Cells rounded to 1,000. Percents use slightly different bases; this grid is schematic.
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Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2026-09-09-food-never-eaten