title: Short communication: a food-systems approach to assessing dairy product waste.
abstract: Concern about world population increase, food security, and the environmental burdens of food production have made food-waste reduction a social and environmental priority. In this context, the quantification of dairy product waste is especially difficult due to the varied means of disposal, by solid and liquid waste streams, and due to inclusion as an ingredient in many processed foods. In this study, food intake data from the Australian National Nutrition Survey (>13,000 participants; >4,500 food items) were disaggregated into basic foods and total national dairy product intake was expressed in whole-milk equivalents. This result was compared with total domestic milk supply, indicating a level of waste of 29% for dairy products in the Australian food system. With national food-waste reduction targets becoming increasingly common, reliable estimates of food waste at the national scale are important for goal setting, baseline reporting, and performance monitoring. For this purpose, the systems approach to assessing food waste demonstrated in this project is deemed to have advantages over other common methods of food-waste assessment, such as bin audits, waste diaries, and surveys.
authors: CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences, Clayton, Victoria 3169, Australia. Electronic address: brad.ridoutt@csiro.au.
authors: B G
authors: BG
authors: Ridoutt
authors: CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
authors: D L
authors: DL
authors: Baird
authors: CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Bastiaans
authors: CSIRO Computational Informatics, Dutton Park, Queensland 4102, Australia.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Darnell
authors: CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
authors: G A
authors: GA
authors: Hendrie
authors: CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Riley
authors: CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences, Werribee, Victoria 3030, Australia.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Sanguansri
authors: CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Syrette
authors: CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Noakes
authors: CSIRO Sustainable Agriculture National Research Flagship, Dutton Park, Queensland 4102, Australia.
authors: B A
authors: BA
authors: Keating
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D003611:Dairy Products / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply; D008892:Milk / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013597:Systems Analysis; D014866:Waste Products / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D014866:Waste Products
keywords: food waste; household waste; supply-chain waste; sustainability