Nearly Half of Canada’s Food Production Goes to Waste Every Year, Report Says

A box of food scraps that will be composted sits at the Norcal Waste Systems transfer station in San Francisco in a file photo. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Canada is discarding 46.5 percent of its annual food production at an estimated cost of more than $50 billion every year, according to a newly released report.

The food system disposes of 21.1 million tonnes of the food it produces annually and, according to a report from non-profit group Second Harvest, 8.8 million tonnes—or 41.6 percent—of that waste could have been “rescued” to feed more than 17 million Canadians per year.

The cost of the wasted food comes in at an estimated $58 billion, which is enough money to pay for the groceries of 3.7 million Canadian families for a year, Second Harvest said in its report.

“The environmental and financial costs of food waste are staggering, especially in light of the current food affordability crisis,” Second Harvest CEO Lori Nikkel said in a press release. “We must act now and work together to reduce food waste at every level.”

Food affordability issues have led to record levels of food insecurity, with many Canadians relying on non-profits to access food, the report said.

A recent Food Banks Canada report verifies that assertion, noting record food bank use in 2024, with a high of more than 2 million food bank visits in March. Food bank usage has risen 90 percent since 2019 and is up more than 6 percent since 2023, the Food Banks Canada report said.

Food Waste

There are two types of food waste referenced by the Second Harvest report: avoidable and unavoidable.

While the food system has become more efficient at reducing the amount of unavoidable waste—such as animal bones and husks that cannot be eaten—it has not been successful in lessening the amount of avoidable food waste, the report said.

Avoidable food waste, such as blueberries that reach retail stores but are not purchased, has increased 6.5 percent in the past five years and makes up more than 25 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year. That, the report says, is the equivalent of 253,223 one-way flights from Toronto to Vancouver.

Best-Before Dates

Best-before dates play a huge role in avoidable food waste, the report noted. They account for 23 percent of the 7.24 million tonnes of total avoidable food waste from processing to purchase.

Best-before dates were introduced in Canada in 1976 for short-shelf-life foods, the report said.

They were originally intended to manage inventory and guide consumers, not reflect a product’s actual shelf life or safety. But all too often they are confused with expiry dates.

“They can mislead consumers into discarding perfectly good items like canned vegetables, rice, pasta, dairy and fresh produce,” the authors wrote. “Only foods with a shelf life of 90 days or less require BBDs, yet they’re found on almost everything.”

Expiry dates apply to only five food types in Canada—meal replacements, nutritional supplements, infant formula, formulated liquid diets, and foods for low-calorie diets—and must be strictly followed. Best before dates, however, serve as general guidelines for freshness, taste, and nutritional value.

That confusion leads four out of 10 people to throw out food past its best-before date at least once a week, according to a survey conducted by Léger. In fact, the second most frequent reason why people discard food at home in Canada is because it was not consumed before the date, the survey found.

Food expert Sylvain Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, has described best-before dates as the culprit for a large share of food waste in Canada.

“These dates are the second greatest reason consumers throw food away in their households,” Charlebois previously told The Epoch Times. “It is estimated that a Canadian household could avoidably waste $100 to $400 worth of food each year because of the overwhelming belief that ‘best before’ means ‘bad after.’”

Business Incentives Needed

A highly competitive market and limited profit margins have led many retailers to set more stringent quality standards for their suppliers, the report said. While some retailers offer discounts to customers for misshapen produce, many stores continue to reject fruits and vegetables because of size and colour.

Reducing this type of food waste is a “huge financial opportunity for both the Canadian food industry and consumers,” the authors wrote, noting that for every 1 percent reduction in food waste, businesses can see a 4 percent boost in revenue.

“This improvement happens because tackling the 20 or more costs related to food waste—beyond the actual price of the food—can help businesses cut their operating costs by 15 to 20 percent,” the authors said. “All these savings add up, resulting in higher margins and profits.”