Even though thousands of people suffer from hunger each day, there are people that simply throw away their food, imposing serious environmental, social and economic consequences. Food waste concept, however, is not as strictly defined as it varies from research to research. The classification itself can be specific to certain regions and cultures, and it can even be affected by the eating habits of the researchers. This review paper aims to unify the theoretical knowledge of food wasting with examples from actual research, evaluating data from the perspective of eating habits and finding motives for such an action, such as family and friends’ influence, incomes, lifestyle, religion, mass media etc. Previously done studies show that people are less concerned about reducing food wastage when it comes to environmental and social problems, but are the most motivated if they see a real opportunity to save money.

Agrifood systems are both a contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and an important sector for achieving China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal and mitigating climate change. Rising global temperatures and frequent extreme weather have greatly weakened agricultural production capacity (IPCC, 2021). The need to mitigate climate change by reducing GHG emissions has global consensus. In 2020, the Chinese government made an important commitment toward peaking its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Under China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal, the contribution of agrifood systems to GHG emissions reduction cannot be ignored. According to estimates by the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy (AGFEP) at China Agricultural University (AGFEP, 2021), GHG emissions from agrifood systems reached 1.09 billion metric tons (t) of CO2eq in 2018, accounting for 8.2 percent of total national GHG emissions. While ensuring food security as the top national priority, the combined measures can reduce GHG emissions by 47 percent by 2060, compared to 2020 levels; these measures include improving agricultural technologies, reducing food loss and waste, and shifting dietary patterns. When coupled with the carbon sequestration of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), agrifood systems can contribute significantly to achieving carbon neutrality (AGFEP, 2021).