Globally, around 14 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and retail. Significant quantities are also wasted in retail and at the consumption level. Reducing food loss and waste is critical to creating a Zero Hunger world and reaching the world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 2 (End Hunger) and SDG 12 (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns).

On the occasion of the first observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, we present a series of recent initiatives that aim at reducing food loss and waste, an objective that is firmly embedded in the 2030 Agenda. We present the just-released FAO report, "Tracking progress on food and agriculture-related SDG indicators" and its main findings on 12.3.1, and come back to the "The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA, 2019)" which provided a full picture of the world’s food post-harvest. We also explore the Food Loss and Waste Database and introduce the new e-learning course on Food Loss Index (FLI).