Food security has raised crisis alarms all over the world. Especially nowadays, conventional
agriculture is threatened by climate change and extreme weather, and the agri-food
system is loading the increasing population burden. Food loss and waste (FLW) have
gotten more and more attention. Still, the main research focus is on a narrowed and
specific stage of the food value chain of specific food types in a particular area,
which lacks an overall comprehensive understanding of this topic from a broad view.
This review aims to provide a comprehensive description of food loss and waste and
provide a useful theoretical background to public decision-makers and individuals
to reduce food loss and waste for a better and more sustainable society, economy,
and environment. Secondary research and content analysis are used in this review as
methodology, following Michael E. Porter’s value chain theory, to analyze and simplify
the sustainable path (in light of the cause and magnitude of food security based on
the nexus between food security and food loss and waste across the entire food value
chain (from the main manifestation of FLW: agricultural production stages, such as
cultivation or breeding and storage, post-harvest processing and distribution, and
retail and consumption. We also provided the Ishikawa model diagram to better explain
the causes of food loss and waste. And other manifestations, such as the COVID-19
and Russia and Ukraine war). To conclude, reducing food loss and waste is crucial
for sustainable food security, but the manifestation of FLW differ in different stage
of the value chain and different food types. Generally speaking, production sees the
most loss, while consumption sees the most waste. Therefore, we suggest both public
and private should be aware that producing more food and utilizing food resources
properly along different stages of the value chain is equally important.
