I’m sure there has been a time when you have opened your refrigerator and found something that has had an expired date on it or has gone bad. We have all been there. After finding the unwanted food, we pick it up and throw it out thinking: that’s too bad; next time I won’t buy as much of it. Then, we completely forget about what had happened and once again find ourselves purchasing the same amount as before.

In the past century, food wastage has been a global quandary affecting both those in hunger and suppliers. According to the FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), roughly a third of the planet’s food is lost or goes to waste, with rapidly escalating numbers. Meanwhile, one in nine people around the world go to bed with an empty stomach every night, with thousands dying of malnutrition and hunger every day.

Undernourishment (also known as malnourishment) is most prevalent in Africa. The absolute number of undernourished people is highest in Asia. A high percentage of these people suffer from malnourishment because of a food shortage, or because of poverty. Not to mention the interminable rising global population.

Around the world, 46 percent of all fruits and vegetables are never purchased for reasons including mainly appearance. Consumers tend to pick the fruits and vegetables that are attractive over the ones that look ‘deformed’ when there really isn't anything wrong with them.

Sadly, natural disasters destroying anything in their path and hegemonized ongoing wars in countries of the Middle East and Eastern Africa are other factors. This stops food from getting to those in need. Alas, much of this surplus of food might end up being disposed of, or what’s even worse… stolen.

Fortunately, the United Nations had already seen the severity of this matter. They have taken part in changing the state of these people. In 1961, it formed the World Food Programme (W.F.P.). This is currently the largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security in the world. According to the World Food Programme, their Zero Hunger priority to eradicate hunger provides food assistance to an average of 91.4 million people in 83 countries each year.

Although this is great, it isn’t enough. More and more people need to step up and build aid agencies to contribute to this paramount cause. The U.N. is so far working with more than 1,000 non-governmental organizations around the globe. Imagine how many people it would be able to feed if more than 2,000 non-governmental organizations worked with the W.F.P.

Significant amounts of food being served at parties is yet another component of world hunger. Hosts order tons of food for a party. Sometimes enough to feed a Roman legion, depending on the host and party. But once the guests have taken their share and most of the party has dissipated, all of the food is instructed to be discarded. As if all of the food grew plentifully on trees.

There are a few that donate or give away some of the food; as much of the food as possible, but the stomach can only take so much in. The rest of it, as you know, is thrown into a disposal bag to later meet its fate in a landfill.

Restaurants and supermarkets do pretty much the exact same thing. They must orders tons and tons of food to be prepared to supply everyone that walks through the door. But at the end of the day, restaurants dispose all of the extra food that wasn’t used and lasts only for the day purchased, and the food that people left on their unfinished plates.

Supermarkets must gather all of the food that has an expired date that matches the day it is being inspected, to later discard it because it has supposedly gone bad, even though it hasn’t. Expired dates are put on food products for a very profit-oriented reason. If food companies didn’t stamp an expired date on their product, people would know it actually lasts longer and the rate at which people go buy their product at the store would diminish. So they include it even though the food product can potentially last for at least a week longer, if not more.

Our actions affect much of the world around us, both in a good and bad way. Earth as it is, has shown us that countless times in ways such as climate change and animal extinction, both of which are consequences to our wrongdoings.

Let's start to change the world around us by conserving our food. There are several ways we can do this. Some of them are as easy as: shopping wisely, knowing when food goes bad, buying produce that is perfectly edible even if it’s less cosmetically attractive, cooking only the amount of food needed, and eating leftovers.

If the entire world went by these principles, the impact it would leave would be tremendous. For example: supermarkets would notice the decrease in demand for these products and not supply as much of it towards us; more food would be available to supply the unfortunate; and by annually saving hundreds of dollars and spending it on other important needs.

So the next time you go shopping, or look for what to eat inside your refrigerator when your stomach growls wanting food, think twice about what you choose. You yourself will notice the difference.