'Wasting Food is Like Stealing,' Pope Francis Says As UN Celebrates World Environment Day

Pope Francis addressed the public on the culture of consumerism and food wastage on Wednesday, June 5, as the United Nations celebrated World Environment Day.

The newly elected Pope denounced today's "culture of waste" wherein people throw away this necessity without considering the poor and underprivileged.

"We should all remember, however, that throwing food away is like stealing from the tables of the poor, the hungry," Pope Francis told the people attending his weekly audience at the St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. 

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about 1.3 billion tons of food are lost or wasted every single year. This amounts to one-third of the total food production in the world. The data also reports that the United States alone throws away 30 percent of all food every year.

"In the industrialised world the majority of waste is by consumers, often because they buy too much and have to throw away what they do not manage to eat," reports Reuters.

The Pope also noted how the world has become more and more accustomed to wastage, as compared to how people in his day treated food leftovers.

"Our grandparents used to make a point of not throwing away leftover food. Consumerism has made us accustomed to wasting food daily and we are unable to see its real value," the Pope explained.

To help encourage and spread awareness against food wastage, the UN FAO launched the "Think.Eat.Save: Reduce your Foodprint" campaign, which aims at showing the public solutions on how to save up food and resources, especially in developing countries.

"On this World Environment Day, I urge all actors in the global food chain to take responsibility for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable food systems," UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, said.

"Food loss and waste is something we can all address."

Supporting this cause, Pope Francis encouraged people to start seeing food wastage and hunger as a serious problem.

"I encourage everyone to reflect on the problem of thrown away and wasted food to identify ways and means that, by seriously addressing this issue, are a vehicle of solidarity and sharing with the needy."