Food Insecurity, Food Waste, and Food Redistribution among Arabic-Speaking Countries: A Systematic Review

Over 20% of Arabs are food insecure; almost double the global figure (10.9%). Malnutrition also is the greatest challenge that nations with conflict are facing, despite the presence of several agencies that redistribute surplus food to the impoverished. Yet, this society wastes 34% of its food. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to discuss food insecurity, food waste, and redistribution in 22 Arabic-speaking countries. War, poverty, harsh climate conditions, limited agricultural resources, and food disposal are other risk factors for food insecurity. However, food redistribution would help in diminishing the gap between food waste and insecurity, which deserves further investigation. Other solutions include the development of agricultural projects; desalination of seawater and/or building dams, use of biotechnology to boost crop productivity and its nutrition quality, and resistance to drought and pests, adoption of food-waste reduction technologies; and development of new regulations/laws via tax reduction for donors and displaying fines for wasting food. Finally, the present review differs from other published manuscripts in that it establishes a database for researchers regarding not only food waste, but also describes reasons and suggested solutions to reduce hunger and food insecurity in the Arab world.