When conversations turn to tackling food waste, attention often focuses on what happens at the end of the food journey. Surplus food is collected, redistributed or repurposed instead of being discarded, making food rescue an important part of efforts to ensure edible food continues to serve a purpose. However, as the world observes the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on 29 September, there is also a need to look further upstream and consider how surplus can be prevented in the first place.

By the time food reaches the point where it needs to be rescued, decisions have already been made about how much to purchase, produce and prepare. While some surplus is unavoidable due to changing demand, fluctuating supply chains and unexpected circumstances, more accurate planning can help reduce the amount of food that becomes excess in the first place.

Within food production and preparation, seemingly small decisions can have a significant cumulative impact. Ordering more ingredients than required, preparing portions beyond actual demand or using only part of an ingredient can all contribute to unnecessary waste. When these practices are repeated across commercial kitchens, food businesses and households, the amount of resources lost can become substantial.

Reducing food waste therefore requires a broader view of an ingredient’s entire journey, from purchasing and production to preparation and consumption. Better demand forecasting, adjusting production according to actual needs and making fuller use of available ingredients can help prevent surplus before it occurs.

Another important step is reconsidering what is defined as waste. Certain food-processing by-products may no longer be needed for their original purpose but can still retain nutritional or functional value. Okara, the pulp left behind after processing soybeans, is one example. Rather than being discarded, it can be incorporated into other food products such as noodles, sauces and dumplings, giving the by-product a new application.

For food product developers and innovators, examples such as okara demonstrate the value of looking beyond an ingredient’s original purpose. The end of one application does not necessarily mean the end of an ingredient’s usefulness. Exploring alternative applications for underutilised ingredients and by-products can help create additional value while reducing the amount of material that enters the waste stream.

However, finding new uses for surplus is only one part of the solution. In some cases, preventing food waste can begin with a much simpler intervention: better planning. A kitchen that forecasts demand more accurately and prepares quantities closer to actual requirements may be able to avoid generating unnecessary excess before food needs to be redistributed, repurposed or discarded.

Although prevention may be less visible than food rescue, it represents an equally important form of progress. Food that is rescued or redistributed can be measured and counted, while the food waste that never occurs is much harder to see. Yet more careful purchasing, more efficient use of ingredients and better production planning are all indicators that food waste is being addressed at its source.

This does not reduce the importance of food rescue. Edible surplus will continue to arise, and organisations that collect and redirect food play an essential role in connecting available resources with people and communities who need them. Rather than viewing prevention and rescue as separate approaches, they should work together alongside efforts to repurpose surplus and create value from underutilised resources.

Responsibility also extends across the wider food system. Businesses can identify where unnecessary surplus occurs within their operations and introduce better forecasting and production practices. Researchers and food innovators can explore new applications for ingredients and by-products that are often overlooked, while community organisations can help ensure available food reaches those who can use it.

Education is another important part of long-term change. Future chefs, food innovators and entrepreneurs can be encouraged to view waste prevention as an integral part of responsible food production, rather than an issue that only needs to be addressed once surplus has already been created.

Ultimately, food rescue will remain an important part of the solution, but meaningful progress also comes from preventing food from becoming waste in the first place. By looking at the entire journey of food and making more informed decisions at every stage, the food system can move beyond simply managing waste towards creating less of it from the outset.

Tracy Wong Fang Lian is a Lecturer at Taylor’s Culinary Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Taylor’s University, and a member of the Food Security and Nutrition Impact Lab. She specialises in sensory science, food product development and food education.