Representational Image.

   DHAKA, Sept 22, 2025 (BSS) – The Danish embassy in Dhaka today staged an event “Zero Food Waste Lunch” as part of a campaign to minimize food wastage as a 2025 World Bank report suggested more than one-third of all food produced is lost in Bangladesh.

   A Danish embassy statement said the event brought together “Bangladeshi influencers and change makers to inspire action and raise awareness against food loss and waste”.

   “Every day, an estimated 10,000 tons of food is wasted in Bangladesh,” the statement said referring to different studies.

   The statement also referred to a World Bank report saying “up to 34 percent of staple foods such as rice, fish, lentils, and mangoes are lost before they reach the plate, which means lost resources, higher food prices and additional pressure on the planet”.

   “Food waste is a matter of lost opportunities. Farmers lose income, families struggle with higher food prices, and our planet bears the cost,” Danish ambassador Christian Brix Møller told the event.

    The envoy said the embassy’s “Zero Food Waste Lunch” wanted to show that “sustainability and taste can go hand in hand”.
   
   The embassy’s sector counsellor of Food and Agriculture Maria Stein Knudsen said food loss meat “lost livelihoods, food insecurity for families, and greater pressure on natural resources”.

   She said through initiatives like today’s lunch, “we can inspire people to rethink habits and take simple steps that together make a big difference”.

   According to the statement the “Zero Food Waste Lunch” is a part of the embassy’s broader SDG Facility, which supported the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Bangladesh by engaging local voices, fostering innovation, and building partnerships for sustainable development.

   It said one third of all global food products end up as waste instead of providing nutrition, which was made a global challenge of food loss and waste.

   The World Bank earlier in June this year said the food loss in Bangladesh was equivalent to over 4 percent of the country’s GDP while it accounted for 13 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

   According to the World Bank the food loss simultaneously reduces the productivity of a quarter of Bangladesh’s arable land.

   The Bretton Woods institution report on food wastage said “in a region (South Asia) where millions still face hunger and malnutrition, it is concerning that it (the region) also loses a significant share of its food before it ever reaches the plate”.

   “Over 30% of all food in the region is lost or wasted each year, which is enough to feed nearly 300 million people. From farm to fork, food loss and waste undermine nutrition, hurt farmers’ incomes, fuel climate change, and strain both economies and ecosystems,” the World Bank report read.
 
  BSS/PR/