this section examines food wastage occurring at the consumption end is examined along with the underlying factors associated with different socioeconomic and agricultural development conditions recent estimations show that the weight of food wasted per capita by consumers in europe and north america amounts to kgyear compared with the figure for subsaharan africa and south and southeast asia which is only kgyear food and agriculture organization of the united nations c as much as per cent of total harvested food does not reach the marketplace as a result of quality selection and cosmetic considerations institution of mechanical engineers also food production tends to exceed demand in developed countries as a precautionary measure in order to ensure delivery of agreed quantities