FOOD MOUNTAINS PAGE 1

What percentage of the food you buy do you end up throwing away? What is the main
reason for throwing it away? Discuss these questions with your teacher:
What percentage of food produced on farms do Britons throw away?
Apart from in homes, where else is the food wasted?
How many times over would the food thrown away in the UK last year meet Burundi’s
shortages?
How much have global food prices increased by since 2000?
What percentage of everything they buy do consumers throw away?
By how much is it estimated that the world’s population will rise over the next 50 years?
What percentage of wheat grown globally is fed to livestock?
What percentage of its food does the supermarket Tesco waste?
Now read the first part of the article below and check your ideas.

The Independent
March 2008
The £20bn food
mountain: Britons
throw away half of the
food produced
Britain is throwing away
half of all the food produced
on farms, according to the
starkest estimate yet of the
amount of edible produce we
waste.
out free each year. soared by more than 75 per
cent since their lows of 2000,
Lord Haskins of Skidby, a jumping by more than a fifth
former government adviser last year alone, prompting
on rural affairs and chairman riots in some countries.
of Northern Foods, said
yesterday that tackling the
mountain of food wasted
in this country every year
would help to preserve the
environment and go some
way towards feeding an
expanding global population
in the face of unprecedented
food shortages.

About 20m tons of food The food thrown away in

is thrown out each year:
equivalent to half of the food
import needs for the whole of
Africa. Some 16m tons of this
is wasted in homes, shops,
restaurants, hotels and food
manufacturing. Much of the
rest is thought to be destroyed
between the farm field and
the shop shelf.
The total bill to the nation is
estimated to be more than
£20bn. The issue has come
to the fore as supermarkets
fight off criticism over billions
of plastic carrier bags handed
the UK last year would meet
the equivalent of Burundi’s
shortages - where malnutrition
runs at 44 per cent - more Consumers, in thrall to
than 40 times over. use-by dates and lured by
supermarket multi-buy offers,
Lord Haskins’ estimate of the are the biggest culprits,
scale of food waste suggests throwing away one-third of
the problem in the UK is everything they buy, according
far greater than previously to the Waste & Resources
imagined and came as global Action Programme, the
food prices hit new records. Government’s waste
The United Nation’s World watchdog. The National
Food Programme has admitted Consumer Council will
it might have to ration food highlight the issue of buy-
aid in response to rocketing one-get-one-free promotions,
global food prices that have which exacerbate the problem
FOOD MOUNTAINS PAGE 2
of food waste, in a campaign
this spring.
Lord Haskins urged
governments to press their
citizens to avoid food waste.
He called recent controversy
over supermarkets’ free
distribution of plastic bags “a
red herring”.
Estimates that the world’s
population will rise by 30 per
cent over the next 50 years to
around 8.5 billion have raised
Discussion Which of the statistics do you find most surprising? Lord Haskins suggests that
vegetarianism would be a solution to the problem. What do you think of his suggestion? How do you
think we can stop wasting so much?
Read the second part of the article and order the tips from the most to least practical in your
opinion. Explain your reasons.
Help the planet - 10 tips to
help you cut that food-waste
mountain rotting in your bin:
1. Buy less if you don’t think
you can eat it: smaller joints,
loose vegetables rather than
pre-packed bags that are too
big - and try not to fall for
quite so many buy-one-get-
one-free offers.
2. Use your imagination with
the spectre of a global food
shortage too big for farmers
to meet, Lord Haskins said.
“If consumers ate a bit less
and wasted a bit less you’d
help to solve the problem.
If the world was vegetarian
then you’d solve the problem
completely.” One-third of
wheat grown globally is fed to
livestock reared to end up on
the dinner table.
Experts believe that Lord
Haskins might struggle to get
people to listen. Tim Lang,
food policy professor at City
University, said: “Waste is a
fundamental part of the food
economy and it will be hard
to get rid of. I do not see how
simply appealing to morals
will do it.”
Supermarkets are very
defensive on the subject
of food waste. A Tesco
spokesman said the retailer,
which has not published
leftovers: that half a roast-
chicken would make a perfect
pie, sandwich filling or form
the basis for a salad.
3. Don’t let vegetables rot
in the bottom of the fridge:
even older vegetables make
decent soups, casseroles or
curries.
4. Remember to cancel that
vegetable box if you’re going
figures showing how much it
sends to landfill since 2004,
wasted less than 1 per cent of
its food each year. Waitrose,
which alone of the big chains
sells off “ugly” fruit and
vegetables cheaply, said: “It is
not in our business interests
to produce any waste at all,
so our branch managers work
very hard to minimise it.”
A spokesman for the British
Retail Consortium said:
“Retailers are working closely
with suppliers to minimise
waste through analysing the
supply chain.”
But Lord Haskins said
supermarkets compound
the issue of food wasted in
the supply chain by giving
suppliers far too little notice
of their orders or cancelling
orders at the last minute.
to be dining out a lot that
week.
5. Don’t over-order in
restaurants; if you do, make
like an American and ask for
a doggy bag.
6. Use common sense rather
than use-by dates when
deciding what to throw away.
7. Become friends with your
FOOD MOUNTAINS PAGE 3
freezer: make your own
frozen ready-meals with last
night’s leftovers or any food
that you have overbought.
8. Whiz up older fruit into
a smoothie or bake it in a
pudding.
9. Look out for the new
plastic bags that will give your
vegetables a longer lease of
life in your fridge.
10. Try and shop more
frequently so that you buy
what you need, rather than
rely on one major shopping
trip.

Discussion Do you think you will be using any of the suggestions?

Vocabulary focus Find synonyms for these business terms in the first part of the article:
1 things that have been produced or grown
2 a printed or written statement of the money owed for goods or services
3 a person in charge of a company or other organization
4 a company that sells goods to the ultimate consumer, usually in small quantities
5 a group of hotels or shops owned by the same company
6 a division of a large organization
7 a company that provides another with materials or services it needs
8 a verbal or written request for something to be made, supplied, or served
Language focus Look at this extract from the article:
He called recent controversy over supermarkets’ free distribution of plastic bags “a red herring”.
What is a red herring?
There are other marine idioms in English. Complete the gaps with the appropriate creatures to
make the expressions defined below. If you find it difficult, the words are at the bottom of the page.
1 as red as a _____________ very red
2 as slippery as an _________ undependable, devious, cannot be trusted
3 ___________ up to abruptly stop talking
4 packed in like ____________ crowded close together
5 the world is one’s __________ one is able to enjoy a broad range of opportunities
6 a __________ a ruthless or dishonest person
Practice Complete these sentences with the idioms above.
1 The suspect ________________ as soon as the police started asking about the robbery.
2 That sales person is _____________________ and you should be careful when you talk to him.
3 The girl was ________________________ after sitting in the sun all day.
4 We were _________________________ during the morning commute in the train.
5 “I don’t know what to do with my life.” “You have thousands of opportunities. _______________.”
6 “Be careful with the new CEO, people say he’s ruthless.” “Yes, I’ve heard he’s a real ________.”

clam eel oyster lobster sardines shark

FOOD MOUNTAINS PAGE 4
Teacher’s notes
Total pages 4 / student pages 3 / week of 07.04.08 / mid-intermediate+
Vocabulary focus
1 produce
2 bill
3 chairman
4 retailer
5 chain
6 branch
7 supplier
8 order

Language focus
What is a red herring? = information or a suggestion that is used to draw attention away from the
real facts of a situation (orginally used as a strong fish smell from a smoked fish that was used to
confuse hunting dogs when they were hunting and following something)
1 lobster
2 eel
3 clam
4 sardines
5 oyster
6 shark

Practice Suggested answers:

1 clammed up
2 as slippery as an eel
3 red as a lobster
4 packed in like sardines
5 the world is your oyster
6 shark