Abstract

Food wastage encompasses any sustainable food or inedible parts of food that is removed, disposed or discarded from the food supply chain. Research estimates food loss or waste generated accounts to 35% of the total global food production. Also, food waste impacts social, economic, sectors of the society and also adversely impact the environment. Thus, food waste has become a global scourge requiring innovative and sustainable solutions to combat the scourge and its attendant effects. The present review in an effort to cover several areas of food waste to assess the present methods and trends. With introduction to global statistics, waste composition and policies we cover the area of treatment with details to discuss the variables and applications with case studies to reflect global statistics. Next we highlight the present trends in value-added products and ecofriendly reuse of the products. Application of newer molecular biology and microbial community along is covered to gain insights to these modern methods. It is imminent and timely to review the current trends and methodologies in this area of concern both individually and globally. Such efforts are expected to enable better treatment, management methods and set new goals for research and development and develop new value-added products