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More people are avoiding throwing away food because of financial pressures, according to a government survey.
Total household food waste is down by 21% over the last seven years, while the proportion of people who claim to always avoid throwing food away is up from 48% to 58% over four years, said the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The agency’s 2014 Food and You study is the third in an ongoing research exercise carried out for the FSA, which quizzed adults about their eating, cooking and shopping habits.
The survey suggests the recession has had a long-lasting impact on the nation’s eating habits, making us less likely to throw away leftovers, or “avoidable” food waste.
More than a quarter of adults are buying more food on special offers, while householders are wasting less food by being better organised with shopping, planning meals and storing their food safely to maximise its shelf life. Only 57% of households still rely on one weekly main shopping expedition.
The FSA said: “Overall, 52% of respondents said they had made at least one change in their buying or eating arrangements in the last six months for financial reasons.”
The survey also found ignorance of food safety rules, with up to half of all householders putting their health at risk by being likely to store raw meat in a way that could lead to cross-contamination.
In the UK, official studies have shown that households throw away about seven million tonnes of food a year, when more than half of it is perfectly good to eat. In value terms, the average UK family throws away food worth £700 each year.
The FSA research exercise was carried out this year, consisting of 3,453 interviews from a representative sample of adults aged 16 and over across the UK.
