Tomatens öde - En kartläggning av matsvinn i primärproduktionen

Sammanfattning: It is estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of the food produced in the world annually will never be consumed by humans. The fact that significant amounts of food are lost or thrown away in the food supply chain is not just an environmental issue; above all it is a huge problem because many people in the world do not have access to food. Lost food and waste appears throughout the whole food supply chain, where primary production is the part of the chain where statistics to a great extent are missing. The Swedish government is now (in 2013) investing 12 million on efforts to reduce unnecessary food waste at all stages in the food supply chain, which includes a mapping of food waste in primary production. The aim of this study is to identify what happens with the standard round tomatoes that are grown and harvested in Sweden (i.e. if the tomatoes are sold to wholesale, are consumed in the private household etc.), with the purpose of determining food waste. Furthermore, the study intends to investigate the cause or causes to why the standard round tomatoes are not sold for human consumption or in one or another way reach the human stomach. And from this evaluate whether there are actions that can be taken to reduce any possible loss of standard round tomatoes in primary production. Interviews with 20 tomato producers and three producer organizations resulted in the conclusion that food waste of standard round tomatoes in Sweden are very small in primary production. The causes of the wastage include tomatoes that are damaged, overripe, rotten, cracked or that they have fallen from the plant and reached the ground. However, if the plant and/or the tomatoes are affected by some disease, the wastage can be much larger. The tomatoes that become waste will either be composted or used for biogas production or animal feed. The cultivation techniques and selling systems that are used are most likely contributing to the small wastage. Resources like energy and water are used in the production and a small wastage means that these are not lost without any use. Although the waste percentage is low it still contributes to a certain amount of lost tomatoes and one way that perhaps can reduce this even more is if these tomatoes could be processed in some way. In that manner more tomatoes can reach the consumer, which is a better utilization of resources.