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| Assoc Prof D.Goburdhun |
1. Problem Addressed: Aesthetic Standards and Consumer Misconceptions Drive Food Waste
In Mauritius, a significant portion of edible fruits and vegetables is discarded—not because they are spoiled or unsafe—but because they fail to meet cosmetic standards. Supermarkets, hotels, and even consumers often reject produce with minor blemishes, irregular shapes, sunburn marks, or size variations. According to Assoc Prof Daya Goburdhun, this “lookism” in food leads to massive post-harvest losses, especially at the retail and consumer levels. Compounding the issue is a widespread lack of awareness: many people confuse “best before” dates with “use by” dates, discard leftovers prematurely, or overbuy due to poor meal planning. This knowledge gap fuels a cycle of overconsumption, waste, and environmental strain, all while perfectly nutritious food ends up in landfills.
2. FOLSUN’s Approach: Building Food Literacy Through Education and Practical Tools
FOLSUN (Food Literacy & Sustainable Nutrition) is a multi-pronged educational program designed to empower Mauritian households with the knowledge and skills needed to reduce food waste. Rather than focusing solely on policy or infrastructure, the initiative targets behavioral change at the individual and community level. It delivers interactive workshops in schools and communities, trains educators, and runs public information campaigns that demystify food labels, storage methods, and shelf life. A cornerstone of the program is hands-on learning—participants practice meal planning, learn how to repurpose leftovers, and understand how to store different foods to maximize freshness. By grounding sustainability in everyday kitchen practices, FOLSUN makes waste reduction accessible, practical, and culturally relevant.
3. Practical Tools: Turning Waste into Culinary Opportunity
To support behavior change, FOLSUN has developed a free, publicly available recipe booklet titled “Valorising food leftovers and imperfect fruits and vegetables.” This guide features 45 creative, easy-to-follow recipes that transform commonly discarded items—such as overripe bananas, wilted greens, vegetable peels, or misshapen tomatoes—into nutritious meals, snacks, or preserves. Examples include banana peel chutney, carrot-top pesto, and smoothies using bruised fruits. The booklet not only reduces waste but also encourages culinary innovation and cost savings for households. It is distributed digitally and in print through schools, health centers, and community hubs, ensuring wide accessibility across socioeconomic groups.
4. Holistic Vision: Linking Sustainable Diets, Local Economies, and Environmental Health
FOLSUN promotes a food philosophy centered on local, seasonal, fresh, and minimally processed ingredients. This approach simultaneously tackles multiple challenges: it reduces reliance on imported, packaged, and ultra-processed foods; supports small-scale Mauritian farmers by creating demand for all grades of produce (including “imperfect” items); and lowers the carbon footprint associated with food transport and packaging. By shifting consumption patterns toward whole foods, the initiative also aligns with principles of food sovereignty and circular economy—where nothing is wasted, and local resources are optimized. This systems-thinking model positions food not just as sustenance, but as a lever for economic resilience and ecological balance.
5. Health Connection: Reducing Waste While Preventing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
She emphasizes a critical but often overlooked link: food waste and public health are deeply intertwined. Ultra-processed foods—high in sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, and additives—are major contributors to rising rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and certain cancers in Mauritius. By encouraging people to cook from scratch using whole ingredients (including imperfect produce), FOLSUN helps reduce consumption of these harmful products. Additionally, the program teaches portion control and mindful eating, which prevent both overconsumption and leftover waste. In this way, reducing food waste becomes a public health intervention, promoting diets that are not only sustainable but also protective against chronic diseases.
6. Waste Management Beyond Consumption: Composting and Supply Chain Optimization
Recognizing that not all food waste can be prevented at the consumer level, FOLSUN integrates organic waste recovery into its strategy. The program partners with local composting enterprises and NGOs like FALCON to promote decentralized composting systems—ranging from backyard bins to community compost hubs. These initiatives turn food scraps into nutrient-rich soil amendments, closing the loop in the food cycle. Moreover, FOLSUN extends its training to the entire food value chain: farmers learn better harvesting and handling techniques; distributors optimize inventory to reduce spoilage; retailers adopt dynamic pricing for near-expiry goods. This systemic approach ensures that waste reduction efforts are coordinated from farm to fork to compost.
7. Community Engagement: Mobilizing a Nationwide Movement
FOLSUN is not confined to academic circles—it actively seeks to embed food literacy into the social fabric of Mauritius. The initiative collaborates with primary and secondary schools to integrate food waste education into curricula, works with women’s associations and youth groups to run cooking demonstrations, and engages private companies through corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnerships. Social media plays a pivotal role: Instagram and Facebook campaigns feature weekly “waste-free challenges,” user-submitted recipes, and success stories from households that have cut their food waste in half. This grassroots strategy ensures the message reaches diverse audiences, fostering a culture where reducing waste becomes a shared social norm.
8. Call to Action: Collective Responsibility for Systemic Change
Assoc Prof D. Goburdhun stresses that no single actor can solve the food waste crisis alone. FOLSUN issues a broad appeal for collaboration: households must rethink their shopping and cooking habits; supermarkets should relax cosmetic standards and discount imperfect produce; food businesses can donate surplus; NGOs can scale composting and redistribution; and the government must provide policy support and infrastructure. The initiative frames food waste not as a personal failing, but as a systemic issue requiring coordinated action. By building alliances across sectors, FOLSUN aims to create an enabling environment where sustainable choices are easy, affordable, and socially encouraged.
9. National Context: Aligning with Mauritius’ 2033 Waste Reduction Target
FOLSUN directly supports the Mauritian government’s national goal to cut food waste in distribution and consumption by 50% by 2033—aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3. Using 2023 as the baseline year, authorities are developing standardized metrics to track progress. Policy measures under development include: A National Strategy on Food Loss and Waste,
- Tax incentives for food donations to charities,
- Mandatory or voluntary supermarket discounts on near-expiry or imperfect items,
- Public awareness campaigns like “Love Food, Hate Waste,”
- Support for circular economy innovations, such as converting food waste into insect protein (for animal feed) or biofertilizers.
In essence, FOLSUN represents a paradigm shift: from viewing food waste as an inevitable byproduct of modern life to seeing it as a solvable challenge through education, innovation, and collective action. By connecting nutrition, sustainability, public health, and local economic development, the initiative offers a holistic roadmap for a more resilient and equitable food future in Mauritius.
Source: Le Defi Media Info
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