Around a third of UK produced food ends up in the dustbin, a report has claimed.

According to BBC programme, Costing the Earth, government and food industry statistics show each adult wastes food to the value of £420 a year.

The problem is getting worse as well, the report claims, with changes in consumer habits and food safety scares leading to wastage increasing by around 15 per cent each decade.

Lord Haskins, government adviser on food and farming, told the BBC the figures were outrageous.

“I think it reflects on all of us. It is the worst side of us as consumers. Excess of affluence means that we think food is cheap, and therefore we can throw it away.

“We are very greedy when we go and shop. Our eyes are bigger than stomachs in homes and in restaurants.

“We are pretty idle when we have food left over in our houses. We can't be bothered to deal with leftovers.

“We are risk adverse. We're obsessed with sell-by dates, so that we throw away perfectly good food which happens to be out of code."

Tom Heap, BBC rural affairs correspondent, claimed demand for “pristine looking” produce meant a lot of food does not make the grade and never leaves the farm gate.

When it comes to foodservice, consumers are eating out more, but caterers are throwing away around one third of all they buy, he added.

A lack of time or knowledge to use up leftovers is also to blame for increasing food wastage.

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