Research On Chinese Food Waste Behavior Under Wage Growth

After long-term efforts,China’s grain output has basically met the demand of residents,and some agricultural products have experienced a period of excess.However,with the growth of population and urbanization continued to advance,the residents’ food demand structure has been upgraded and the industrial use of grain has expanded,and the grain supply can basically meet the demand for a long time.Traditional food security research mainly focuses on the improvement of food production capacity and food supply,but insufficient attention has been paid to the large amount of residents’ food waste.Currently,China’s postharvest food losses and waste are huge,food waste has become one of the important factors affecting China and even global food security.Therefore,understanding the root causes and impact mechanisms of residents’ food waste can provide a reference for formulating policies to reduce food waste and provide theoretical support for judging the level and trend of food waste in China in the future,which is of great significance for improving food security in China.However,there is a lack of comprehensive systematic theoretical analysis and empirical tests of scientific norms on residents’ food waste behavior in existing studies.According to the consensus reached in the literature in the field of food waste research,residents’ food waste includes household food waste and eating out food waste.In order to better understand the deep-seated causes of food waste and to judge the longterm trend of food waste,this study cuts into the rise in wages and discusses the impact of wage growth levels on the equilibrium state of food waste among residents.First,the study combs the current situation and trends of food waste in our country.Secondly,from the perspectives of household food waste and eating out food waste,a framework for decisionmaking analysis of household time allocation was constructed.The impact and mechanism of wage increase and the food market development on household food waste were analyzed,and predicted the trend of food waste in China in the medium and long term.Thirdly,from the perspectives of eating out food waste,the decision-making analysis framework for residents dining out was constructed,and the influence and mechanism of wage and the inseparability of restaurant’s dishes portion size on food waste was analyzed.The main conclusions of this study are generalized as follows:The total amount of residents’ food waste is huge in China.The amount of eating out food wasted is much higher than that of household food waste.Among the waste foods,vegetables and cereals,account for the highest proportion of total food waste weight.Rural households have more food waste than urban residents.The increase in wages will have an impact on food waste by changing the time allocation decision of households.The forecast results show that the total amount of food waste in households will continue to rise in the medium and long term.The increase in income caused by rising wages has significantly increased the amount of food wasted in residents’households.The elasticity estimation results show that the income elasticity of household food waste is 0.07.The increase in income leads to an increase in the waste of low-value food over that of high-value food.The predicted results show that with the increase of residents’income level and population increase,the total amount of food waste in China will continue to rise in the medium and long term.By 2030,the total amount of domestic food waste will reach 15.09 to 15.72 million tons.The community food market development has effectively reduced food waste in residents’households.The existence of supermarkets in and around the community significantly reduces the rate of food waste in residents’ households,which significantly reduces the amount of food waste in residents’ households.The increased demand for food diversification due to increased wage has enhanced the eating out food waste.As the increases of residents’ wage level,the demand for food diversification increases,which significantly increases the number of meals ordered,and at the same time leads to an increase in the amount of food ordered and wasted.Compared with low-wage people,high-wage people have significantly increased the number of meals ordered outside,and caused more serious food waste.The inseparability of restaurant dishes portion size has resulted in more food waste.On the one hand,the increase in the dishes portion size in restaurants directly increases the consumer’s food waste;on the other hand,it also indirectly affects the amount of eating out food waste by suppressing consumers’ diversified dishes demand.Incomplete dining information significantly improves consumers’ eating out food waste by influencing ordering decisions.Increasing the degree of consumers’ knowledge of restaurant dishes supply information can effectively reduce the number of dishes ordered,and reduce the amount of food ordered and food waste.Based on the above research conclusions,in the coming period,the increase in wage level will continue to promote the increase of residents’ food waste,which requires long-term attention and correct guidance and intervention.It is recommended that social news media increase visual reports on the current situation of food waste in China,and strongly advocate the social atmosphere of saving food,and continue to guide consumers to rational consumption.It is recommended that the government encourage enterprises to carry out primary processing of agricultural products through preferential policies,and encourage the development of the social food retail industry to increase the residents’ food accessibility and increase the supply of food products and clean vegetables.It is recommended that the China Catering Industry Association formulate menu standards that incorporate information on dish taste,dishes portion size,and calorie content to improve the dining information of consumer.It is proposed that the catering industry provide food saving publicity and reasonable ordering reminder services to enhance consumers’ awareness of saving,and encourage restaurants to provide a diverse supply of dishes portion size and convenient post-meal packaging services.This study may have the following innovations in three aspects:First,based on changes in residents’ time allocation caused by rising wages,a decision model for household food waste was constructed,and revealed the mechanism by which rising wages and food market development affect household food waste.For the first time,we measured the income elasticity of food waste in Chinese households;and predicted the trend of food waste in China in the medium and long term.It helps to better understand the causes of household food waste and provides a reference for judging the future of household food waste in China.Second,the study seizes the characteristics of inseparable portion size of restaurant’s dishes supply,and builds an ordering decision-making model.It reveals the mechanism of wage increase and restaurant’s dishes portion size on consumers’ eating out food waste;it provides policy tools for interfering the food waste of residents eating out.Third,study the characteristics of incomplete information about eating out,and for the first time examine the impact of incomplete information on residents’ eating out food waste.The research perspective is relatively new.This research provides a basis for reducing food waste by improving the availability of restaurant dish information.