One-third of food in industrialised countries does not get eaten, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
In developing countries 40 per cent of crops are lost to poor transportation and storage facilities, mould and pests.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Danielle Nierenberg, co-founder of Food Tank, and Anna Lappe, founder of the Real Food Media Project, say that "waste is pervasive across the food chain".
If we can reduce this waste, their argument goes, we will find that food is abundant and the 868m people who go to bed hungry each night can be fed from existing supply.
The authors outline strategies to cut losses from across the world, including the use of sealed bags to protect cow peas in Africa and the California Association of Food Banks' Farm to Family initiative, which distributes more than 55,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables around the US state.
In the UK, Tristram Stuart's Feeding the 5,000 project offers consumers recipe ideas using imperfect or 'wonky' produce.
