ROME, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The European Union and UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Friday launched a joint force to fight against food waste and antimicrobial resistance in supply chains.
EU Commissioner of Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis and FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva signed an agreement at FAO headquarters for the collaboration, the Rome-based food agency said in a statement.
FAO and the EU pledge to work closely together to halve per capita food waste by 2030, a goal established under the new Sustainable Development Goals global agenda. It also commits them to intensified cooperation on tackling the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on farms and in food systems.
Speaking at a signing ceremony, Andriukaitis said food loss and waste "represent an unacceptable, unethical and immoral squandering of scarce resources and increase food insecurity, while AMR marks a grave societal and economic burden."
"We are becoming more united, more efficient and more strategic in how we tackle these issues, and as such, this agreement should be celebrated,"he said.
Talking about AMR, Graziano da Silva said the use of antibiotics, including their use to promote growth, is already widespread. Antibiotics and other antimicrobials should be only used to cure diseases and, in certain circumstances, to prevent epidemics, he said adding they should not be used for growth promotion.
According to FAO data, one-third of all food produce for human consumption -- 1.3 billion tons -- is lost or wasted each year globally, causing massive financial losses while squandering natural resources.
In Europe alone, around 88 million tons of food are wasted each year, with associated costs estimated at 143 billion euros, according to EU estimates.
Meanwhile, the increased use -- and abuse -- of antimicrobial medicines in both human and animal healthcare has contributed to an increase in the number of disease-causing microbes that are resistant to antimicrobial medicines used to treat them, like antibiotics, according to FAO.
The UN agency believes AMR a growing threat that could lead to as many as 10 million deaths a year and over 100 million U.S. dollars in losses to the global economy by 2050, according to scientific findings. And in addition to public health risks, AMR has implications for food safety as well as the economic well-being of millions of farming households across the globe.
