ABSTRACT
Food waste has become widely debated in our society. Its mitigation, particularly at the consumer level, can result in a greater supply of food. The goal of this chapter is to quantify household food waste in Brazil. The food acquisition data of the Family Budget Survey (POF) of 2008–2009 were used to simulate different scenarios of waste. The results showed that in 2008 the most purchased food groups were drinks and infusions, dairy products, cereals, vegetables and oilseeds, meat, fish and offal. The minimum estimate of household food waste in Brazil was two million tons, assuming a waste value of 5%, which was equivalent to R$ 9 billion or US$ 4 billion.
