Food has become too cheap in developed world, industry boss says The average family throws away food worth £680 each year, recent figures showed. According to WRAP, the food waste group, Britons throw away 7.2 million tonnes of household waste each year. Around 4.4 million tonnes of this - equivalent to 60 per cent - is food that could have been eaten, the group said. In 2008 Gordon Brown, the then-Prime Minister, said that excessive food waste is costing every household in Britain around £8 a week. Mr Vis said that food waste often occurs "at the very last stages of the supply chain," for example in restaurants or in people's homes, according to reports on Bloomberg. His comments were made in the context of rising global demand. Mr Vis said that if people could bring down levels of waste, then the increase in production needed to feed the world's growing population would not need to be so great. Recent research by Unilever, which makes brands including Flora margarine, Marmite and Hellman's mayonnaise, found that six in ten adults recognise that food waste is a problem that needs to be solved. The three main reasons why people throw away food is because it goes off too quickly, leftovers are not eaten, and too much food is prepared in the first place. Although the price of food in supermarkets and restaurants is rising, the proportion of household income spend on food has fallen steadily in recent years, figures show. Andy Dawe, WRAP's head of food and drink, said: "Food waste is a serious issue, increasingly so. Although the percentage of consumer income spent on food has fallen for decades, more recently there has been significant food inflation. UK households currently throw away 4.4 million tonnes of food which could have been eaten, costing around £680 a year for the average family with children. This is money that could be saved if we made the most of the food we buy. Unilever has launched a six-month long experiment in which 12 families across the UK will adapt their daily routines in order to live more sustainably, including throwing away less food. WRAP said that Britons are actually throwing away less than they were. Between 2007 and 2010, households reduced their food waste by 1.1 million tonnes. Earlier this year fast food restaurants, pubs, hotels and catering firms agreed new voluntary targets to cut excessive food waste over the next three years. Chains including McDonald's, bakery Greggs and pizza company Domino's were among those that signed up to the initiative. Under the plans, the groups pledged to cut food and packaging waste by 5 per cent - equivalent to 100 million meals - by 2015. The voluntary agreement also saw firms pledge to send more food and packaging for recycling. Mr Vis was speaking at the CropWorld Global 2012 conference in London.