The role of Education towards Food Waste Minimization

Food waste represents a social, economic and environmental issue, and has been accounted among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in terms of responsible food production and consumption. However, although authorities and academia have been interested in the issue, several efforts must be enhanced to educate people on sustainable food consumption behaviors. The present paper, according to a brief systematic and configurative literature review conducted on Web of Science Core Collection (WoS) from February 2011 to February 2021, tries to answer the following research question: How education could be enhanced to increase food waste awareness/perception among young generations? First, it has emerged that young generations are completely aware of food waste phenomenon, are largely interested in environmental issues but still generate huge amounts of food waste. Therefore, considering that young people seem to have a high reactivity in relation to environmental concerns, it is fundamental to steer this attitude toward more sustainable behavior patterns through food education. In addition, people between 18-35 years old represent the “healthy carriers” of inspiration, hope and culture on sustainable development. However, several efforts to make education interactive, comprehensive, engaging and inclusive are essential. Results highlight the opportunity of creating innovative education systems, interactive application, technical sheets adapted to different ages, in order to illustrate the precise meaning of food waste in terms of social, economic and environmental consequences. Finally, the authors stress the importance difference between education about sustainable development and education for sustainable development, which has to be intended as a purpose.