CONFIDENTIAL 2 LG/APR 2018/ELC501

TOTAL: 35 MARKS

Read the following article and answer ALL the questions that follow.

The fight against food waste

I About a third of the planet’s food goes to waste. That is enough to feed two billion
people. Surprisingly, people throw away food often due to its looks. In view of this
issue, Tristram Stuart, a British activist who runs an organisation that campaigns
against global food waste, has decided to challenge himself by producing a
restaurant meal for 50 people in 24 hours. This includes planning a menu, gathering 5
ingredients from farms and vendors intending to throw them out and welcoming
guests to a venue in New York City.

II Stuart heads to a New Jersey farm to gather 75 pounds of squash deemed by

farmers too imperfect to sell and then rushes back to New York City to continue his
shopping at the Union Square farmers’ market. There, he successfully procures 10
discarded beet greens, wheatgrass, and apples which are considered as market
‘waste’ to be used in his New York feast. Although he is a novice cook, he has
managed to successfully persuade a half dozen New Yorkers to devise a menu,
gather ingredients, welcome guests, prepare, cook, serve, and clean up a meal. All
his efforts are for a good cause in creating awareness against food waste. 15

III Besides this challenge, Stuart has also interviewed farmers regarding food waste. In
the farming town of Huaral, Peru, Luis Garibaldi who is the largest grower of
mandarin oranges in the country, informed Stuart that 70 per cent of his crop is
exported to the European Union and North America. However, 30 per cent will not
be the right size, colour, or sweetness, or it might have blemishes, scars, scratches, 20
sunburn, fungus, or spiders. Thus these rejects will be sold at local markets, allowing
Garibaldi to gain one-third profit of the price of the exports. Rejected mandarin
oranges are not the only ones contributing to the waste statistics. There are
countless other produce facing the same fate.

IV In the Peruvian Ica Region, a farmer annually abandons millions of stalks of 25

asparagus too thin or too curved or with bud tips slightly too open to export. Also, a
producer once told Stuart that he disposed more than a thousand tonnes of
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imperfect Minneola tangelos and a hundred tonnes of grapefruit a year into a sandpit
behind his warehouse. All these actions are to satisfy the demand for perfectly
shaped fruits and vegetables by the consumers. 30

V In fact Stuart noticed this food waste problem in 2011, when he spent a week around
the Kenyan countryside. He was sourcing for ingredients for a formal dinner in
Nairobi where the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) highlighted the
problem of food waste. A hundred miles from the capital, he met a farmer who was
forced by the European cosmetic standards to reject 40 tonnes of green beans, 35
broccoli, sugar snap peas, and runner beans a week, which was enough to serve
250,000 people. Since then he began to increase his campaign against food waste.

VI It is obvious that supermarkets’ cosmetic standards are crazily demanding good

quality produce, causing supply to diminish. However, this causes the standards of
the produce sold to deteriorate. Grade standards of produce were devised long ago 40
to provide growers and buyers with a common language for evaluating produce and
mediating disputes. If growers can sort their asparagus or tangelos into excellent
grades, they stand a better chance of finding markets for their lower grade produce
which could fight the global food waste phenomenon. However, merely depending
on the grade standards to fight global food waste is far from sufficient. Supermarkets 45
have always been free to set their own standards. Nonetheless, in recent years,
upscale grocers have started running their produce departments like beauty
pageants. This is in response to customers who expect only ideal produce such as
round and shiny apples, and straight and tightly budded asparagus.

VII According to Rick Stein, the vice president of fresh foods at the Food Marketing 50
Institute, the quality and the best appearance of the produce will capture the share of
the consumers’ wallet. Consumers will instantly grab high quality vegetables and pay
more for them willingly. Thus, unsold produce will be donated to food banks or
chopped up as supermarkets’ prepared meals or salad bar. However, this is not
always the case. Seventy per cent of United States grocers’ excess food is neither 55
donated nor recycled. The United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP)
discovered that this results in 795 million undernourished people in the world today.
Such a waste is so unfathomable.

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VIII There are major effects of food waste. One major effect is wasting food takes a toll
on the environment. Producing food that no one eats squanders the water, fertiliser, 60
pesticides, seeds, fuel, and land needed to grow it. The quantities are not trivial.
Globally, a year’s production of uneaten food consumes as much water as the entire
annual flow of the Volga, Europe’s most voluminous river. Jonathan Bloom,
American Wasteland author, claims that growing the 133 billion pounds of food that
retailers and consumers discard in the U.S. annually absorbs the equivalent of more 65
than 70 times the amount of oil lost in the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon
disaster. These staggering numbers do not even include the losses from farms,
fishing vessels, and slaughterhouses. If food waste were a country, it would be the
third largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, after China and the U.S.

IX Another major effect is food waste goes against morality across cultures. Nearly 800 70
million people worldwide suffer from hunger and poor nutrition, causing deaths of
3.1 million children every year, as cited by the World Food Programme. According
to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, in developing countries, 2.9
trillion pounds of food is wasted globally in a year due to inadequate storage
facilities, bad roads, and poor refrigeration which lead to much loss in postharvest. 75
This amount is enough to feed every one of us more than twice over. In
comparison, developed nations waste more food farther down the supply chain. This
occurs when retailers order, serve, or display too much produce. Consumers then
ignore leftovers available in the back of the fridge or throw away perishables before
they expire. 80

X Both the UN and the U.S. have pledged to halve food waste by 2030. Meanwhile,
Stuart has also successfully campaigned for retailers to relax their strict cosmetic
standards for fruits and vegetables. This has caused many supermarkets to
change their policies. Today, rejected fruits and vegetables are the fastest
growing sector in the fresh produce market. Since stores can sell them for less, 85
shoppers get a bargain to purchase them. In addition, countries and companies
are also devising and adopting standardised metrics to quantify waste. If the
target is met, enough food could be saved to feed at least one billion people.

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XI On Saturday, in New York City, it is time to cut the vegetables, gathered from
farms and donated by the Rungis wholesale market. Hundreds of volunteers come 90
and go, dicing roughly 3,900 pounds of potatoes, eggplants, carrots, and red
peppers over a period of four hours. As midday approaches, the park becomes
crowded as diners begin to queue up and the servers wear gloves, hats, and
aprons in preparation to serve the diners. At noon Stuart appears on stage and
thanks everyone who made the banquet possible. He calls food waste a scandal 95
and briefly links agriculture to climate change before withdrawing from the stage.
But not before shouting, “Bon appétit.”

Adapted from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/03/global-food-waste-

statistics/

QUESTION 1
For each of the following items in this question, indicate your answer by circling the
appropriate option.

a) The word ‘procures’ in line 10 can best be replaced by the word

i. acquires
ii. possesses
iii. collects
iv. persuades

b) In line 39, the word ‘diminish’ can best be defined as

i. lessen
ii. devalue
iii. grow
iv. weaken

c) Based on the context, the most suitable meaning of the word ‘ideal’ in line 48 is
i. precise
ii. complete
iii. stable
iv. perfect

d) The word ‘unfathomable’ in line 58 can contextually mean

i. impossible
ii. inconclusive
iii. unpredictable
iv. incomprehensible

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e) The most suitable meaning for the word ‘squanders’ in line 60 is

i. steals
ii. abuses
iii. misuses
iv. consumes
(5 marks)

QUESTION 2
Identify the stated main idea of paragraph VIII and provide ONE MAJOR and ONE MINOR
supporting detail.

a) Stated main idea:

There are major effects of food waste.
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)
b) Major supporting detail:
One major effect is wasting food takes a toll on the environment.
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)
c) Minor supporting detail:
_________________________________________________________________________
Producing food that no one eats squanders the water, fertiliser, pesticides, seeds, fuel, and
land needed to grow it
_________________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

QUESTION 3
Indicate the topic that is most suitable for the content of paragraph VI by circling the
appropriate option from the following list:

a) Lowering grade produce

b) Setting standards for grading produce
c) Fighting global food waste phenomenon
d) The importance of supermarkets’ cosmetic standards
(1 mark)

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QUESTION 4
However, merely depending on the grade standards to fight global food waste is far from
sufficient (lines 44-45).

Infer what the author means by the above statement.

_________________________________________________________________________
There are better ways to solve global food waste than grading produce as thus can improve the way people value
undesirable looking vegetables. //
_________________________________________________________________________
Grading produce is not the best way to solve the problem of global food waste as customers will still be selective when buying
_________________________________________________________________________
produce.

(2 marks)
QUESTION 5
Formulate the implied main idea of paragraph X.
_________________________________________________________________________
There are several measures that have been taken to overcome food waste so that excessive food
can be better utilised.
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(2 marks)

QUESTION 6
List two types of support given by the author in paragraph VII to strengthen the opinion on
how food is valued by consumers.
Provide one example for each type of support.

a) Type of support: Expert opinion

__________________________________________________

Example: __________________________________________________
According to Rick Stein, the vice president of fresh foods at the Food Marketing
Institute, the quality and the best appearance of the produce will capture the share of
the consumers’ wallet.
__________________________________________________

b) Type of support: Statistic

__________________________________________________

Example: Seventy per cent of United States grocers’ excess food is neither
__________________________________________________
donated nor recycled
__________________________________________________

(4 marks)

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QUESTION 7
According to Rick Stein, the vice president of fresh foods at the Food Marketing Institute, the
quality and the best appearance of the produce will capture the share of the consumer’s
wallet (lines 50-52).

Infer what the author means by the above statement.

Consumers are willing to pay more for perfect produce. //
_________________________________________________________________________
The good quality and appearance that shown by a product will attract customers to buy it.
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(2 marks)

QUESTION 8
Identify the type of support for each of the supporting details based on the following options.
Use each option only ONCE.

Observation Example Recommendation

Statistics Expert Opinion Definition

No. Supporting Detail Type of

Support

a) This is in response to customers who expect only ideal produce

such as round and shiny apples, and straight and tightly budded Example
asparagus. (Paragraph VI)

b) In fact Stuart noticed this food waste problem in 2011, when he

spent a week around the Kenyan countryside. (Paragraph V) Observation

c) Nearly 800 million people worldwide suffer from hunger and poor
nutrition causing deaths of 3.1 million children every year as cited Statistic
by the World Food Programme. (Paragraph IX)

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d) Jonathan Bloom, American Wasteland author, claims that growing

the 133 billion pounds of food that retailers and consumers discard
in the U.S. annually absorbs the equivalent of more than 70 times Expert opinion
the amount of oil lost in the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon
disaster. (Paragraph VIII)

(4 marks)
QUESTION 9
Write T for a statement that is TRUE and F for a statement that is FALSE.

a) Rejected produce sold at local markets provide a huge profit for the
F
farmers.

b) The supply of produce is greatly reduced due to the demand of the

T
supermarket’s cosmetic standards.

c) Supermarkets use unsold produce in prepared meals.

F

d) Developing nations waste more food than developed nations.

F

(4 marks)
QUESTION 10
Do you think supermarkets should set their own grade standards of produce sold? Provide
two reasons to support your opinion.

No, supermarket should not set their own grade standards of produce sold.
_________________________________________________________________________
Because, taste and nutrition of the produce are more important than its appearance. //
Not everybody can afford to but ideal produce. //
_________________________________________________________________________
Consumers should be taught that imperfect produce is also adible.
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

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_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(3 marks)

QUESTION 11
Study the statements below. Write I for inductive reasoning and D for deductive
reasoning in the boxes provided.

No Statements Types of
Reasoning

a) Stuart heads to a New Jersey farm to gather 75 pounds of squash

deemed by farmers too imperfect to sell and then rushes back to
New York City to continue his shopping at the Union Square
farmers’ market. There, he successfully procures discarded beet
greens, wheatgrass, and apples which are considered as market I

‘waste’ to be used in his New York feast. Although he is a novice

cook, he has managed to successfully persuade a half dozen New
Yorkers to devise a menu, gather ingredients, welcome guests,
prepare, cook, serve, and clean up a meal. All his efforts are for a
good cause in creating awareness against food waste. (Paragraph
II).
b) Besides this challenge, Stuart has also interviewed farmers
regarding food waste. In the farming town of Huaral, Peru, Luis
Garibaldi who is the largest grower of mandarin oranges in the
country informed Stuart that 70 per cent of his crop is exported to
the European Union and North America. However, 30 per cent will
not be the right size, colour, or sweetness, or it might have
blemishes, scars, scratches, sunburn, fungus, or spiders. Thus I
these rejects will be sold at local markets, allowing Garibaldi to
gain one-third profit of the price of the exports. Rejected mandarin
oranges are not the only one contributing to the waste statistics.
There are countless other produce facing the same fate.
(Paragraph III).
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c) Secondly, food waste goes against morality across cultures.

Nearly 800 million people worldwide suffer from hunger and
poor nutrition causing deaths of 3.1 million children every year as
cited by the World Food Programme. According to the Food and
Agriculture Organisation of the UN, in developing countries, 2.9
trillion pounds of food is wasted globally in a year due to
inadequate storage facilities, bad roads, and poor refrigeration
which lead to much loss in postharvest. This amount is enough to D
feed every one of us more than twice over. In comparison,
developed nations waste more food farther down the supply chain.
This occurs when retailers order, serve, or display too much
produce. Consumers then ignore leftovers available in the back of
the fridge or throw away perishables before they have expired.
(Paragraph IX).

(3 marks)

QUESTION 12
Identify two (2) underlying assumptions that can be made in paragraph IX by circling the
appropriate options.

a) Whoever wastes food has a low morale.

b) Food waste always leads to world hunger.
c) Food is wasted due to postharvest logistics.
d) Consumers and retailers contribute to food waste.
(2 marks)

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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