The term food waste is used interchangeably in different studies to describe food loss or kitchen waste (Schneider, 2013). Food loss is defined as the food that is wasted because of spoilage, loss in quality, or improper handling across the food chain supply before it reaches the consumer (Gustavsson et al., 2011). Food waste represents the edible food that is purchased for consumption but ends up in a garbage can or fed to animal or used as fertilizer because of its quality deterioration or improper storage or passing its expire date or prepared or cooked in quantity more than needed for consumption (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2019). Food waste is a component of food loss and is generated at the end of food chains by the decision and actions of retailers, food services suppliers, and consumers. However, food loss occurs during agricultural production, postharvest handling or processing. Papargyropoulou et al. found that developed countries experience food waste in the retail and consumer sectors; while developing countries encounter food loss in the production and processing sectors (Papargyropoulou et al., 2014).
The number of food loss and waste varies depending on the type of food, the specific circumstances, and the local situation in each specific country or culture. Quested indicated that homes are the largest contribution to food waste in the United Kingdom that is 8.3 million tons/year, costing consumers 12 billion sterling pounds (Quested et al., 2011). Jorissen concluded that the amount of food wasted in households per capita per year for different European countries is as follows: 110 kg in the UK, 108 kg in Italy, 99 kg in France, 82 kg in Germany, and 72 kg in Sweden (Jörissen et al., 2015). These figures illustrate that any effective strategy to combat food waste needs to focus on the final consumer. According to Food and agriculture Organization (FAO), food loss was estimated in the Near East and North Africa region at around 250 kg/person/year and cost more than 60 billion dollars annually, although the Near East and North Africa region is a net food importer. The rate of food loss is 20% of grains, 50% of fruits and vegetables, 16% of meat, and 27% of fish and seafood (Berjan et al., 2018).
The topic of food waste has received special attention and has been highlighted greatly in recent years. A report issued by FAO indicated that the annual amount of global food loss and waste is 1.3 billion tons, equivalent to one third of the total food produced globally, which is 4 billion tons annually. However, 800 million people are suffering from hunger, and recovering half of food waste can feed the whole world (Berjan et al., 2018). Food waste at the household level accounts for a significant share of total food waste in developed countries (Gustavsson et al., 2011).
Food waste causes undue pressures on the environment and natural resources used in food production, and is the basis for the depletion of land, water, energy, and capital resources and causing pollution. Consequently, FAO addressed the issue of food waste within the context of sustainable development goals and achieving food security. Where goal 12.3 (responsible production and consumption) call for sustainable development goals to halve per capita global food waste at retail and consumer level by 2030 (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2019).
Given the absence of studies in Libya on food waste at the household level, this study aimed to identify the consumer^'s shopping behavior, the amount and value of food wasted, the causes of food waste and the type of food commodity wasted.
Materials and Methods
Study design: A voluntary survey was used in this study using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed using the Q survey program. The contents of the questionnaire were adapted to the Libyan context from previous questionnaires and studies on food waste (Berjan et al., 2018, Elmenofi et al., 2015, Sassi et al., 2016). The questionnaire consisted of 20 questions, which included a group of single-choice questions and multiple-choice questions, divided into 3 sections. In the introductory part of the questionnaire, the meaning of food waste in this study was introduced to inform the respondents. The first section of the questionnaire consists of questions about the demographic information of the study subjects. In the second section regarding food purchase behavior, respondents were asked about shopping habits in terms of whether they use a shopping list, frequency of shopping, and means of using leftover food. In the third section of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked about their monthly expenditure on food, quantity, and types of food commodity wasted, and the economic value of food waste.
The validity of the questionnaire was checked by distributing it to a random sample of 50 individual and their response were reviewed to make any corrections to achieve the objectives of the study. The tool used to perform the survey was online through a link via Facebook and Viber social media as well as short messages and by face to face interview. The survey was performed from November 21 to December 23, 2019. The total number of volunteers who participated in the survey was 751. Eighty percent of them responded through the Q survey link; while for 20% of the total respondents face-to-face interviews were performed.
Ethical considerations: This research was conducted accordance with the Scientific research ethics document issued by University of Tripoli-Libya, that the answer to the questionnaire and participation in the study should be voluntary, while maintaining the confidentiality of the source of the information and using it  for study and research purpose only.
Data analysis: The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to calculate percentages of respondents to each question and a chi-square test for independence was used between the questionnaire axes using Ja movie software version 1.1.19 (Sydney Australia www.Jamovi. com).
Results
The main characteristics of the subjects are shown in Table 1. The total number of the participants was 751, 87% of them were from the western part of Libya, 3% from the middle region, 8% from the East, and 1% from the South region. Table 1 also shows that 62% of the participants were female and 38% male, indicating that most men in the Libyan community consider food issues as part of female’s responsibilities. The age of respondents ranged 18-55 years. Most of them (31%) were within the age range of 25–34 years; while 22% and 21% were within the age ranges of 18-27 and 35-44 years, respectively. The age ranges of 45-54 and >55 years represented 17% and 10% of the total participants in the study, respectively. The majority of the respondents (88%) were University degree holders. Additionally, 63% of them had full-time or part-time jobs; while 3% were retired and 14% were either students or unemployed. Forty-five percent of the participants were married, 42% were singles living with their parents, 22% were married and had children and 1% were partnered. Regarding the family size of the participants, 36% had family size of 5-6 members, 27% had 3-4 members and 8% had > 8 members. Concerning the monthly income of the participants, 38% had salary range of 450 -1000 Libyan dinars, 21% had 1000-2000 Libyan dinars, 19% did not have any salary, 8% had > 2000 dinars/month, and 6% had salary range of < 450 dinars.
The survey results in Figure 1 show that 41% of the respondents always used a shopping list when shopping, and 37% used a shopping list sometimes; meanwhile 22% did not use a shopping list. Concerning the frequency of food shopping by the subjects,
Figure 2 shows that the majority of the respondents (64%) go shopping once a week; while 11% and 20% of them go shopping daily or every other day. Chi-square test results in Table 2 revealed that using a shopping list reduced the economic value of food waste (P = 0.01) and the percentage of monthly income spending on food level (P = 0.03).
The results shown in Figure 3 reveal that 15% of the participants disposed uneaten food in the trash, meanwhile, 4% and 31% of them managed food in a good way by sharing it with others and using it in other meals, respectively, while 44% of them feed it to animals and 5% used it as fertilizer for plants.
The survey data indicated that 43% of the subjects spent 38% of their income ranged 450-3000 Libyan dinars on food, equivalent to 494 Libyan dinars, calculated based on the estimated average income of the participants at 1300 dinar. However, 40% of the respondents spent more than 50% of their income on food equivalent to 786 dinars, and 17% spent less than 25% of their average income on food (Figure 4). This means that Libyans spent more than a third of their salary on food only.
Statistical analysis of the results from this study revealed that there was a significant association (P < 0.05) between percent of monthly expenditure on food with education level, employment, and monthly income of the respondents (Table 2).
Concerning estimation of the amount of discarded food in grams while it is still fit for human consumption, the results in Figure 5 show that 60% of the respondents did not discard any leftover food that is still consumable and 25% discarded less than 250 grams/week. However, 15% discarded more than 250 grams of food weekly, and by calculating these numbers on Libya families, the amount of waste food annually is estimated at 2661 tons. Chi-square test indicated a significant association (P < 0.05) between the quantity of waste food and the education level and place of living of the participants in the study (Table 2).
Figure 6 reveals that 65% of the participants in the study wasted about 1729 tons of bread annually; while 10% and 11% of the participants wasted vegetables or pasta, respectively. Moreover, 4%, 3%, 2%, and 1% of the participants wasted dairy, rice, bakery goods, and fruits, respectively.
The survey showed that 63% of the participants wasted food with an economic value less than 25 Libyan dinars/month/family (less than 6 US $ dollars), i.e. account for about 167 million dinars annually. Moreover, 26% of the participants wasted home food with an economic value ranging between 25–70 Libyan dinars; while 12% of them discarded food with a value of more than 70 dinars (Figure 7). The results of chi-square indicated a significant association (P < 0.05) between the employment of respondents and the policy of shopping in terms of using prepared shopping lists with the economic value of waste food (Table 2).

 

 

P ˂ 0.05