Prague, Sept 9 (CTK) – One in two Czech households regularly throw away food, and one in three do so once a week at least, most often out of the conviction that the food has decayed, according to a public opinion poll released by the STEM/MARK agency and published by daily Pravo Wednesday.
Old people take more efforts to preserve and fully consume food than the younger generations, showed the poll conducted for the Tetra Pak food procession and packaging company.
Four percent of households throw foods into garbage containers every day, one third do so once a week at least and over 10 percent once a month at least.
Only less than 20 percent of Czech households do not throw food away at all, Pravo writes.
“Although Czechs often seek ways to save money, a large part of households still throw food away, with a half of them doing so regularly,” said Lenka Halkova, from Tetra Pak.
The food that is most often thrown away are baked goods, i.e. rolls and bread, which are thrown away by 55 percent of Czechs.
Fruits and vegetables are thrown away by 40 percent.
Almost 50 percent of the respondents “confessed” to throwing away cooked meals. They are most often wasted by young people under 29, as over a half of them said they throw prepared meals in the garbage bin now and then.
Liquid foods and dairy products are thrown away by 11 and 19 percent of people, respectively, and meat by 5 percent, the poll showed.
The share of those who waste food is markedly lower in the age category of 45-59. One third of these people never throw food away. The same answer was given by only 13 percent of respondents under 29.
The Czechs throw away foods mainly in the belief that it has decayed, but they ignore the expiration date instructions.
“Only one in ten Czechs follows the expiration date instructions. Czechs far more rely on whether the food seems to be decayed. Two thirds of Czechs follow this rule,” Halkova is quoted as saying.
A large amount of food ends in garbage simply because it was left unconsumed and people found no other way to use it. This problem is not faced by people in small towns and villages where they can give the remaining food to animals or add it to a compost, Pravo writes.
