Quantification of food loss and waste and its percentage estimation along the food supply chain in Korea

Abstract

Recent changes and food crisis at the international level have raised the awareness of food security in Korea; however, a problem that seems more urgent than the crisis is the lack of a national strategy for food loss and waste (FLW) in Korea. Moreover, where and to what extent food waste is generated in the food supply chain (FSC) is unknown. This study aimed to quantify food waste through material flow analysis and estimate the percentage of loss and waste at each stage of the FSC. The results revealed that 34.1% of the total supply of fruits and vegetables, meat and cereals was lost and wasted in Korea in 2015. Given that the proportion of edible parts in the food supplied for human consumption usually reaches 94.9%, a considerable amount of the food must have been discarded even though they are mostly edible. Furthermore, 47.6% of the total losses and wastes occurred at the upstream stages in the FSC, which include the agricultural production and processing stages, and 52.4% occurred at the downstream stages, which included the consumption stage, that is, distribution and household stages. In particular, more fruit and vegetable FLW were generated in the upstream stages of the FSC, whereas more meat and cereal loss and waste were generated in the downstream stages. The efficiency of policy implementation can be enhanced if food waste reduction strategies involve focusing more on areas with high losses.

Keywords

Food loss and waste food waste percentage food supply chain quantification circular economy material flow analysis

Introduction

Complex issues such as increased international oil prices, prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, Russia–Ukraine war and climate change impact are changing the way goods are produced, traded and consumed worldwide (Hayashi, 2022; World Bank, 2022a, 2022b). Compared to the previous year, the Food Price Index increased by 28.1% in 2021 and 25.7% in May 2022 (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2022a). Such an increase is recognized as a food security crisis for countries such as Korea, which import over half of the food they consume and whose food self-sufficiency is on the decline (Jang, 2020; Korea Food Security Research Foundation (KFSRF), 2022).

Moreover, about one-third (around 1.3 billion tonnes) of the food produced for human consumption worldwide has been discarded (FAO, 2011), implying waste of energy, water, land and money used to produce foods that were discarded, in addition to involving negative impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions and wastewater (Campos-Rodríguez et al., 2021; Ju, 2021; United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2021).

Food is lost and discarded throughout the food supply chain (FSC), from agricultural production to household consumption (FAO, 2011). Considering the food culture in Korea, the country is by no means free from problems of food loss and waste (FLW). New food forms such as home meal replacement and meal kits have recently gained popularity in Korea. As a result, some of the waste generated by cooking at home is considered to be generated by the food industry (Lee, 2022). Food-related waste has increased by 20% over the past 10 years (Figure 1; Ministry of Environment and K-eco, 2011). Specifically, the food wastes generated from homes and restaurants have increased by 14.5% (from 13,537 to 15,507 t day⁻¹); furthermore, animal–plant residues, mainly from the manufacturing of food products and beverages, have increased by 46.8% (from 2,750 to 4,036 t day⁻¹).

The international community aims to halve global food waste per capita at retail and consumer levels by 2030 and reduce food losses in production and supply chains by establishing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 (United Nations, 2022). Korea also established K-SDGs and set Food Loss Index and Food Waste Generation Per Capita as indicators of Target 12-3 (Ministry concerned, 2021), and ‘continuous reduction until 2030 and 2040’ was set as a target value. As these goals are more macroscopic and ambiguous than those at the international level, they seem to be an object of doubt.

Dietary patterns are currently changing in Korea, and the amount of total food-related waste is increasing (Ju et al., 2020). Moreover, there is no national strategy for FLW, and the quantification of food waste generated along the FSC has not been accurately performed (Ju, 2021). The value of food loss occurring during transportation, processing and distribution can be found in the food balance sheet (FBS), which contains the current status of domestic food supply and demand. However, since this value does not reflect the amount of waste and is collected from related institutions under the circumstance where the amount of loss and waste at each stage of the domestic supply chain has not been accurately quantified, there will be limits to its practical utilization. Hence, setting specific goals for the K-SDGs and implementing them under these circumstances are challenging, and there will inevitably be limitations to the management of food waste (Hartikainen et al., 2017). Therefore, to prevent food waste and efficiently use resources, it is important to determine the extent of FLW throughout the FSC.

Although there are only few, studies on the quantification of FLW in Korea have been progressing gradually since the 1980s. Yoko (2006) conducted a study that subtracted the estimated value of food loss from the net food supply in Korea and compared the resultant value with the national intake. In addition, Japanese statistics have been used to estimate the amount of food loss. Hwang et al. (2008) suggested a direction for building statistics by analysing statistical types and measurement status related to FLW, and Hwang et al. (2011), focusing on vegetables, identified factors that caused food loss in each stage of the FSC through interviews and surveys. Oh et al. (2012) estimated food loss rates at the preparation, storage and leftover stages for 237 food items from 196 urban households using the diaries method. Ju et al. (2019) analysed the flow of food and food loss according to dietary patterns (fresh and processed food at home, home meal replacement and eating out) for nine food commodity groups at the household level.

Several studies have quantified FLW in other countries. FAO (2011) quantified FLW at each stage of the FSC using the material flow model for seven regions, including Europe and Oceania. A conversion factor was introduced to determine the edible parts of the food. This study estimated the weight percentage of FLW of food entering each stage of the FSC based on each food commodity group and region. Oelofse and Nahman (2013) collected production volume data from the FAO Statistical Yearbook 2010 and FAO FBSs due to limited data in South Africa. The authors also referred to FAO (2011) for a method used for grouping food commodities and the estimated percentage of FLW at each stage of the FSC. Furthermore, Dal’ Magro and Talamini (2019) referred to the studies of Oelofse and Nahman (2013) and FAO (2011) to quantify FLW in Brazil, where food trade is active internationally. FAO food balance data were used to reflect the country’s imports and exports.

Korean quantification papers have been discussing the definition and scope of FLW, and the concepts and interpretations of FLW differ for each study. The main limitation was that statistics from other countries were used for the percentage of FLW, which was the core of quantification, owing to insufficient data in Korea. Although there have been systematic and specific studies, most of them focused on a certain stage or subject of the FSC.

Here, we aimed to quantify the amount of FLW generated along the FSC in Korea using material flow analysis (MFA) and estimate the FLW ratio (named loss and waste percentage (LWP) in this study) according to FSC stages. This estimate was carried out at an unprecedented scale and with data utilization while encompassing the entire FSC for the four commodity groups.

As FLW-related statistical data under the jurisdiction of various ministries in Korea were used here, this study could be used as a reference for improving food waste-related statistics. In addition, this study could be helpful for future FLW-related research because the LWP value in Korea was calculated instead of the Asian-level estimate of FAO (2011). Furthermore, the study is expected to aid the establishment of clear goals and strategies for food waste management policies.

Materials and methods

This section consists of six sub-sections describing research approaches for methods and materials. The overview of the six sub-sections is as follows: research subjects and tools (see section ‘Research subjects and tools’), defining FLW (see section ‘Setting the definition of FLW’), stages of the FSC (see section ‘Setting of the stages in the FSC’), food flow chart with FLW generation (see section ‘Food flow chart and FLW generation’), FLW calculation formula (see section ‘Input and output factors and FLW calculation formula’) and information on the data used in this study (see section ‘Information on the data used’).

Research subjects and tools

Cereals, vegetables, fruits and meat, which have a large supply in Korea, were selected as commodity groups. Fruits and vegetables were combined and grouped into ‘fruits and vegetables’. Firstly, because the distribution channels of the two commodity groups are similar in the FSC; and secondly, fruits and vegetables partially share a six-digit Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System code (HS code), which are numeric codes for classifying goods in foreign trade transactions, making it difficult to determine the volume of imports and exports of them separately. The statistics of the Korea International Trade Association, which was used in this study to determine the import and export volume based on processing level, only provide export and import statistics based on the six digit HS code and not the lower category. As a representative example of sharing code, fruit and vegetable juice are specific products classified under the HS code 200989, which is a subcategory of HS code 2009, without distinction of two commodities (Supplemental Table S4).

MFA is a systematic assessment method that identifies the state of change in the flow and stocks of a specific substance within a system wherein space and time are defined (Brunner and Rechberger, 2017). Based on the mass balance principle, the inputs in a system are equal to the sum of the outputs and stocks (Ju et al., 2019). Microsoft Excel was used for MFA, and FAO (2011) was used as reference for the basic framework of the research process. Lastly, the subject period of the study was based on the year 2015.

Setting the definition of FLW

Food loss refers to the quantitative (mass – kg) and qualitative (nutritional and economic value, etc.) reduction in food (FAO, 2014). It is difficult to distinguish between food waste and food loss based on their general meaning. Beretta et al. (2013) considered food waste and food loss to be the same and named both terms ‘food losses’ in their research. Another perspective is that food waste is part of food loss (FAO, 2014). Food waste is related to the intentional disposal of food because of its inedible parts, the economic frameworks or other special motives. In contrast, food loss involves unintentional disposal. In a recent discussion, the overall decrease in the quantity and quality of food along the FSC was recognized as food loss; among them, the part disposed via selection is considered as food waste (FAO, 2014; Laso et al., 2018).

Recently, an approach based on the stages of FSC has been used to distinguish between FLW. Food loss is generally attributed to the inefficiency of the FSC and is considered to occur during the production, storage, processing and distribution stages of the FSC (FAO, 2011, 2018; World Resources Institute (WRI) and UNEP, 2013). In contrast, food waste occurs by the conscious decision of consumers and due to the existence of non-edible parts, and it is generally considered to be generated during the retail and consumption stages of the FSC (FAO, 2018; Laso et al., 2018; WRI and UNEP, 2013). In summary, loss and waste occur both at the front and end of the FSC; with loss occurring mainly at the front, and waste occurring more at the end (FAO, 2022b).

In this study, both wholesale and retail areas were included in the distribution stage of the FSC because of the scope of interpretation of the available statistics in Korea. Accordingly, the concept of separating food loss and food waste according to before and after the retail stage of the FSC was not adopted here. FLW occur in various forms throughout the FSC, but they are ultimately combined and discharged. Moreover, they are considered as wastes in the statistical survey of the Ministry of Environment. Therefore, in this study, there was no difference in the use of the two terms; hence, the term FLW was used generally. However, from the perspective of edible food loss, the proportion of FLW in relation to the edible part of the food supplied was estimated.

Setting of the stages in the FSC

The FSC in this study comprised five stages (Agricultural production → Handling and storage → Processing and packaging → Distribution → Households). The composition of those stages is based on that of FAO (2011), and the last stage has been adjusted to ‘Households’ instead of ‘Consumption’ to reflect domestic distribution channels and available data. The distribution channels are slightly different for each commodity group and each item within the commodity group. Thus, through aT KAMIS (2022), the distribution channels and stakeholders of representative foods according to commodity groups in 2015 were identified first, and the stakeholders that were included and placed in stages of the FSC were decided.

In addition, the distribution stakeholders were classified according to the type of waste discharged at the various stages. In terms of waste statistics, the scope of food waste dischargers includes not only households, but also meal service facilities, restaurant businesses, superstores, (joint) wholesale markets, integrated distribution centres, lodging businesses and so on (Wastes Control Act, 2022a). By applying a ratio value (Ministry of Environment and K-eco, 2017; Supplemental Table S6) that separates food waste into household and non-household parts, the amount of food waste generated were divided into the amount generated during the distribution and the household stages. Therefore, the distribution stage was set to include wholesalers, retailers, large-scale retailers, and restaurants and the household stage was set separately.

The amount of FLW generated during the handling and storage stages was set as the final amount remaining after applying both supply and demand to the entire system; all other variables were data values produced by government-related organizations (details in section ‘Information on the data used’ and Supplemental Table S6), whereas FLW during handling and storage was the residuals of the entire system. This is interpreted as the handling and storage loss that occurs during the entire process from food production to human consumption, and was assumed to cover various losses such as water evaporation, wastewater treatment, government stockpiling for supply and demand control, and price stabilization.

The Supplemental Table S1 summarizes the above and presents the definition, source and stakeholders of FLW in the FSC. The other universal definitions and examples not specifically mentioned in this study were defined based on other research materials (Dora et al., 2013; Hwang et al., 2011; Ju et al., 2021; Laso et al., 2018; Parfitt et al., 2010; Porter, 2019; WRI and UNEP, 2013).

Food flow chart and FLW generation

This study estimated the LWP for each stage of the FSC using domestic waste generation statistics. Therefore, it is important which statistics value to use as a value of the amount of FLW generated.

Food wastes from household were used in the household stage of FSC, and food wastes from non-household were used in the distribution stage. The amount of animal–plant residues generated during the manufacturing of food products (C10) and beverages (C11) was used as the FLW value in the processing and packaging (PP) stage (Korea Resource Recirculation Information System, 2022). Animal–plant residues refer to the animal and plant wastes generated by businesses in various food industries during manufacturing processes but exclude the food wastes (Wastes Control Act, 2022b). Details of industries manufacturing food and beverages products in accordance with the Korean Standard Industrial Classification (Rev. 9) are presented in Supplemental Table S2 (Statistics Korea, 2022).

The agricultural production stage of the FSC was calculated using the LWP suggested by the FAO (2011) due to data limitations (Table 4). The LWP in this stage indicates the amount of loss and waste that occurred before the final production volume (Table 1) on the FBS was confirmed; therefore, it does not affect the overall supply and demand within the actual FSC.

Table 1.

Food supply and demand in 2015 (Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), 2020).

Category		Fruits and vegetables	Meat	Cereals
Supply elements	① Production	11,536,800	2,274,800	4,443,000
	② Import quantity	2,226,800	775,400	14,202,000
	③ Inventory(±)	39,900	(−) 39,700	(−) 157,000
	(Carry-in from 2014)	56,800	97,000	2,300,000
	(Carry-out to 2016)	16,900	136,700	2,457,000
	④ Export quantity	178,500	28,600	2,000
Utilization elements	⑤ Feed	–	–	9,606,000
	⑥ Seed	38,200	–	41,000
	⑦ Industry use	11,700	43,100	1,147,300
The food supply for human consumption (=① + ② + ③ − ④ − ⑤ − ⑥ − ⑦)		13,575,100	2,938,800	7,691,700

Food domestic imports and exports can be checked through the Korea International Trade Association’s statistical system (KITA K-stat, 2022); they are classified into intermediate and consumer goods, and primary products according to processing level. It is not easy to make a clear 1:1 matching on the stage of the FSC import and export volume that should flow in and out. However, the inflow and outflow points in the FSC were set based on the basic definitions of the terms. Primary products are those in the form of raw materials that have not been processed. Intermediate goods are products that are partially processed, such as semi-finished products and parts. Therefore, primary products and intermediate goods were set to flow in and out before the PP stage. In particular, cereals are highly imported, and significant portions of the imports are used as major materials in the feed and food material industries (KREI, 2016). Therefore, food that is not for human consumption, such as feed and industrial use, was excluded to align with the stage at which the import volume flows in. Meanwhile, consumer goods indicate that customers can purchase them immediately as an end product; therefore, it was set to flow in and out of the distribution stage.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the food flow within the FSC obtained by integrating the above descriptions. The amount of produced food changes in quantity due to imports, exports and food not intended for human consumption (non-food) through a five-stage FSC. In this process, the inedible part or edible but not eaten and wasted part (avoidable food waste) is discharged in FLW form. The FLW gathered in each stage was properly treated through waste management, and some of it was used again as a resource.

Input and output factors and FLW calculation formula

Table 1 shows the food supply and demand status of fruits and vegetables, meat and cereals in 2015, according to Korea’s FBS (KREI, 2020). The data value in this table are the basic inflow and outflow factors used for MFA in this study.

Each stage of the FSC individually forms one inflow and outflow system, but the entire FSC can also be considered as one large system. In this case, the main input is the production for each commodity group, and the final output is the total population intake (KOSIS, 2022; Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2016). The initial production went through five stages of the FSC, and mass change (tonnes) occurred. Supplemental Table S3 describes the factors that flow into and out of each system for each FSC stage and the formulas for calculating their amount.

To confirm the import and export volumes, the Four Digit HS code (Supplemental Table S4) was checked according to commodity through the Tariff Rate Table (Customs Law Information Portal (CLIP), 2022) provided by the Korea Customs Service. The composition ratio of imports and exports classified according to the processing level (Supplemental Table S5) was confirmed using the HS code in the trade statistics system (KITA K-stat, 2022). The volumes of primary products, intermediate goods and consumer goods were calculated by multiplying the corresponding ratio with the amount of import and export on the FBS (Supplemental Table S3, ③).

The animal–plant residues used in the PP stage were accounted for only at the division level in the Supplemental Table S2 in Korea’s waste statistics (Park et al., 2017). Therefore, it is necessary to classify the animal–plant residues based on the amount lost by the commodity groups. In this study, calculations were made based on the assumption that animal–plant residues were discharged according to the ratio of the corresponding commodity groups’ amount used as raw materials in the food industry (Ratio of raw material usage, Supplemental Table S3, ③).

Cereals go through milling after production, and meat goes through packaging after slaughter. Therefore, meat and cereals are designed to pass through the PP stage of FSC. However, according to the sample survey results (aT KAMIS, 2022), 88.6% of fruits and vegetables were directly introduced into the distribution stage of the FSC in a fresh state, and 11.4% flowed into the PP stage.

The average water content per 100 g of fruits and vegetables was 78.1% and that of meat was 64.3%. In contrast, cereal content was relatively low at 27.0% (Supplemental Table S7). Vegetables are known to have significant weight reduction due to loss of water during processing (Hwang et al., 2011). In addition, in the case of meat, liquid waste, which includes a mixture of livestock blood, soluble substances, grease and fibres from gastrointestinal contents, is generated along with solid waste in slaughterhouses (Lee et al., 1997; Mozhiarasi and Natarajan, 2022). This liquid waste naturally flows down to the floor during the slaughtering and dressing processes and is then treated as wastewater in the end (Choi, 2013; Malav et al., 2018). Therefore, in this study, the PP stage of fruits, vegetables and meat were approached differently from cereals because of their relatively high water content and the possibility of wastewater generation. K-eco (2016) reported that there is a 22.4% blank compared to the inputs in the manufacturing of food products and beverages, even after product production and industrial wastes (including animal–plant residues and designated wastes) have been excluded from raw material usage (values in tonnes). In this study, the blank was referred to as ‘other flow’ and used as specific amounts occurring in the PP stage (Supplemental Table S6). Although the cause of this flow was difficult to identify in the reference study (K-eco, 2016) as it was noted as moisture evaporation or wastewater in this study. For this reason, the other flow was accounted for in fruits, vegetables and meat with high water content but not in cereals with relatively low water content. In addition, the inflow and outflow of new water were not considered during the PP stages.

Information on the data used

The data used for the MFA were all obtained from official statistics, statistical examination and survey data produced by government-related organizations in Korea. The Supplemental Table S6 shows the values and sources of data that match Supplemental Table S3 mentioned above. In this study, 2015 data were used, but the figures for other years were used in situation where there were no figures for 2015.

Conversion factors were used to calculate the quantity of the edible part of the food supplied for human consumption. These factors convert the mass of edible parts, excluding inedible parts (bones, skin, etc.) from food that can be consumed by humans. Based on the purchase status of food, the ratio of inedible parts (shells, bones, seeds, etc.) per 100 g was confirmed through the Korean Food Composition data base Table (Agri-Food Allbaro, 2022). The average proportion (%) of inedible parts of foods registered for each commodity group was calculated, and the conversion factor was calculated using the formula ‘1 − the average proportion of inedible parts × 100⁻¹’ (Supplemental Table S7). The average water content was also confirmed.

Results and discussion

Results of MFA according to commodity group

Figure 3 shows the flow within the FSC of fruits and vegetables, meat and cereals.

In 2015, 10% (1,281,867 t) of fruits and vegetables was lost in the agricultural production (AP) stage and 11,536,800 t of products were finally supplied to the handling and storage (HS) stage. Furthermore, 12.9% (1,490,439 t) was lost in the HS stage. Seed and export (1) products were excluded, and inventory (+) from the previous year and import (1) products were included in the FSC. In addition, 11.4% (1,144,170 t) of the total 10,036,577 t of food flowed into the PP stage and 88.6% (8,892,407 t) went directly to the distribution (D) stage in a fresh state. A total of 74,577 t (6.5%) was lost in the PP stage and 256,613 t was lost as other flows. Immediately after the PP stage, import (2) products were added, and export (2) products were excluded. The final 11,753,471 t was introduced into the D stage, of which 11.1% (1,309,669 t) was lost. After that, 10,443,802 t flowed into the household (H) stage, of which 9,180,359 t was consumed by people, and approximately 12.1% (1,263,444 t) was lost and wasted.

In 2015, 2,274,800 t of meat was supplied as final production after 2.9% (67,939 t) was lost in the AP stage. A total of 185,676 t (8.2%) was lost in the HS stage, and industry use and export (1) products were excluded from the FSC. Inventory (−) and import (1) products were introduced, and as a result, a total of 2,021,723 t flowed into the PP stage. A total of 35,513 t (1.8%) was wasted in the PP stage, and 453,429 t was lost as other flows. After that, import (2) products flowed in and export (2) products were excluded, and a total of 2,264,182 t flowed into the D stage. After 8.0% was lost in the D stage, 2,083,283 t flowed into the H stage. In the H stage, 1,908,769 t was consumed by people, and 174,514 t (8.4%) was lost and wasted.

In 2015, 2.0% (90,673 t) of cereals was lost in the AP stage, and 4,443,000 t of products were supplied to the HS stage. Furthermore, 8.2% (363,553 t) of products was lost in the HS stage. After that, inventory (−) and import (1) products were added, and seed, feed, export (1), and industry use products were excluded. As a result, 7,049,228 t flowed into the PP stage, and 4.8% (338,262 t) of it was wasted. Import (2) and export (2) products were accounted for, and a total of 6,989,885 t flowed into the D stage. In the D stage, 10.2% (711,450 t) of the inflow was lost, resulting in 6,278,436 t, which entered the H stage. Among them, 5,592,097 t were consumed by people, and 686,339 t (10.9%) were lost or wasted.

Analysis of supply and FLW

In 2015, the total supply of fruits and vegetables, meat and cereals for human consumption was 24,205,600 t, of which 34.1% was lost or wasted in the FSC (Table 2). The FLW generated was equivalent to 35.9% of the edible part of the food supply for human consumption. It is possible that a considerable amount was lost and wasted because 94.9% of the total supply of fruits and vegetables, meat and cereals for human consumption was the edible portion. Specifically, in the case of fruits and vegetables, the food supply (including inedible parts) in 2015 was 13,575,100 t, of which 39.9% (5,419,996 t) was lost or wasted during the FSC process. This ratio was highest in fruits and vegetables (39.9%), followed by cereals (28.5%) and meat (21.9%). Regarding the stage of waste generation according to commodity group (Figure 4), FLW in fruits and vegetables occurred most frequently in the HS stage (27.5%) and D stage (24.2%). For meat, the highest proportion of FLW (28.8%) occurred in the HS stage, and 28.1% of the FLW occurred in the D stage. For cereals, FLW occurred significantly in the D stage (32.5%) and H stage (31.3%). Table 3 shows that fruits and vegetables lost more in the upstream stages (production and manufacturing) than in the downstream stages (consumption) in FSC, and meat and cereals lost more in the downstream stages than in the upstream stages.

Table 2.

Food supply and FLW generation in Korea, 2015 (tonnes, %).

Category		Fruits and vegetables	Meat	Cereals	Total	Ratio (%)
Food supply for human consumption (a)^a		13,575,100	2,938,800	7,691,700	24,205,600	–
Edible part (b)^b		12,706,294	2,791,860	7,499,408	22,997,561	–
FLW (c)	AP stage	1,281,867	67,939	90,673	1,440,479	17.5
	HS stage	1,490,439	185,676	363,553	2,039,668	24.7
	PP stage	74,577	35,513	338,262	448,352	5.4
	D stage	1,309,669	180,899	711,450	2,202,018	26.7
	H stage	1,263,444	174,514	686,339	2,124,297	25.7
	Subtotal	5,419,996	644,541	2,190,277	8,254,814	100
Ratio of FLW to supply (c a⁻¹)		39.9%	21.9%	28.5%	34.1%	–
Ratio of FLW to edible part of supply (c b⁻¹)		42.7%	23.1%	29.2%	35.9%	–

Food supply for human consumption (a) = Production + Import + Inventory (±) – Export – Feed – Seed – Industry use.

Edible part (b) = Food supply for human consumption (a) × Conversion factor.

Table 3.

Comparison of the FLW volume generated upstream and downstream in the FSC.

Category		Fruits and vegetables	Meat	Cereals	Total
FLW generation		5,419,996	644,541	2,190,277	8,254,814
FSC	Upstream stages^a	2,846,883	289,128	792,488	3,928,499
	Upstream stages^a	52.5%	44.9%	36.2%	47.6%
	Downstream stages^b	2,573,113	355,413	1,397,789	4,326,315
	Downstream stages^b	47.5%	55.1%	63.8%	52.4%

Upstream stage = AP + HS + PP stage.

Downstream stage = D + H stage.

FLW: food loss and waste; FSC: food supply chain.

To compare the estimated amount of FLW in this study with the previously estimated amount of FLW in Korea, the food loss value of FBS (KREI, 2020), which is closest to the scope of this study, was used. Loss in 2015 on FBS was 2,618,400 t for fruits and vegetables, 58,800 t for meat, and 412,000 t for cereals. It was confirmed that the FLW estimate in this study was 2.1 times larger for fruits and vegetables, 10.9 times larger for meat and 5.3 times larger for cereals than the loss value on FBS. This gap can be explained by the methodological difference in setting the FLW range and determining the FLW. The FLW estimate of this study was calculated including the amount of waste as well as loss. In addition, the loss value on the FBS is the value collected from related institutions; however, the FLW estimate in this study is the sum of all the amounts after calculating the amount of FLW for each stage of the FSC.

Estimated LWP in each stage of the FSC

LWP is a numerical value that indicates how much ratio of food inflow is lost and wasted in a specific FSC stage, as shown in Table 4. Fruits and vegetables generally had a higher LWP per FSC stage than other commodity groups.

Table 4.

LWP in each stage of the FSC in Korea, 2015.

	FSC stage
Commodity groups	Agricultural Production (FAO, 2011)	Handling and Storage	Processing and Packaging	Distribution	Household
Fruits and vegetables	10.0	12.9	6.5	11.1	12.1
Meat	2.9	8.2	1.8	8.0	8.4
Cereals	2.0	8.2	4.8	10.2	10.9

LWP: loss and waste percentage; FSC: food supply chain.

For fruits and vegetables, LWP was relatively higher in the HS stage than in the other stages. Meat and cereals had higher LWP in the H stage than in the other stages. Fruits and vegetables and meat had the lowest LWP in the PP stage, and cereals had the lowest LWP in the AP stage.

Research limitations and complementary directions

Animal–plant residues are classified more diversely as animal carcasses and waste furs, and each type has its own classification code (Wastes Control Act, 2022b). However, current waste statistics (Ministry of Environment and K-eco, 2011) were compiled only at the medium level among the large (two digits), medium (four digits) and small (six digits) categories, corresponding to the detailed classification of waste (Wastes Control Act, 2022b). In addition, for waste statistics by industry, data were collected only at the level of division (two digits) category according to the Korean Standard Industrial Classification (Statistics Korea, 2022). Even if the amount of waste can be compiled based on a more detailed classification of each criterion, there might be a limit to the classification of mixed-discharge wastes on the basis of commodity groups due to the characteristics of food. This is because various commodity groups such as leaf and root vegetables, cereals and fruits were mixed during processing and manufacturing, for example, meat and processed egg products (MAFRA and aT, 2016).

In addition, at the food processing site, a weight difference can occur between the input amount of raw material and the output due to weight change in the manufacturing process, and the difference varies depending on the type of manufacturing process (Ju et al., 2020). Therefore, it is not easy to identify the correlation between the amount of raw material input, production and waste generation. Moreover, the K-eco (2016) data were the only data that could be used to indicate the amount of raw material used, production performed and waste generated in the workplace by each industry. The investigation from 2018 was discontinued due to the abolition of ‘the Guidelines for Reduction of Industrial Wastes’ on 18 December 2018. To quantify the FLW at the PP stage, this area of investigation needs to be re-implemented with another justification. Then, if more detailed information regarding water evaporation and wastewater generation is revealed during the investigation, the material flow of the PP stage should be further refined in the future. This study comprises a comprehensive analysis using official data under the jurisdiction of various ministries; it may have fundamental limitations because statistics with different creation purposes, criteria and detailed conditions were combined and utilized. In the future, statistics and coordinate between ministries need to be improved to supplement the cross point of these statistics. In addition, it needs to analyse the specific reasons and structural factors for the occurrence of FLW at each stage of the FSC. If such an analysis identifies situations in which waste is inevitably generated, it would be possible to capture the spot where losses and waste could be significantly reduced.

Conclusion

This study quantified the food losses and wastes generated along the FSC in Korea based on commodity groups, and the percentage of FLW was determined. An MFA was conducted for each commodity group by collecting, sorting and utilizing officially available data from government-related public institutions.

In 2015, 34.1% of the fruits, vegetables, meat and cereals supplied for human consumption in Korea was lost or wasted. Based on the statistics that the edible proportion of food supplies was usually 94.9%, a considerable amount of food must have been wasted even though it was mostly edible. Overall, 47.6% of the total FLW occurred upstream, including the production and manufacturing stages of the FSC, and 52.4% occurred in the consumption stage, including distribution and households, which is the downstream of the FSC. In particular, there were more fruits and vegetable losses in the upstream stage, and meat and cereals had more losses in the downstream stage. In the future, the efficiency of policy implementation will be further enhanced if the establishment of food waste reduction strategies focus more on areas with high losses.

This study is the first to estimate FLW percentage in Korea, encompassing the entire FSC according to food commodities. The reliability and representativeness of the data were achieved using official statistics and survey data from government institutions. However, since the data encompassed statistics from various ministries, more detailed research should be conducted to interpret the statistical interface and appropriateness of using these statistics from various ministries. Similar food reduction measures have been repeated in Korea for several decades, and an abstract FLW reduction target has been set even recently. Therefore, it is expected that this study would act as a new turning and ventilation points for food waste management.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-wmr-10.1177_0734242X231178476 – Supplemental material for Quantification of food loss and waste and its percentage estimation along the food supply chain in Korea

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-wmr-10.1177_0734242X231178476 for Quantification of food loss and waste and its percentage estimation along the food supply chain in Korea by Hyeyoung Kim and Jinwon Park in Waste Management & Research

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Hyeyoung Kim

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

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