Food Loss in Lebanon: Why Bringing the Food Community Together Matters

Blog post description.

10/11/20265 min read

Food loss is more than food that never reaches the consumer. It represents lost resources, lost income and lost value; and in Lebanon, it is closely connected to the resilience of our food system.

This is why we were proud to be part of “Food Loss in the Food Industry: Hidden Costs and Practical Solutions,” held on September 18, 2026, at the Michel Daher Social Foundation in Ferzol.

Held under the patronage of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative in Lebanon, Ms. Nora Ourabah Haddad, the event brought together experts from academia, industry, government and civil society to discuss the challenges surrounding food loss and explore practical solutions.

The panel brought together a diverse group of voices from academia, industry, government and the development sector, including Dr. Hussein Hassan, Professor of Food Science and Technology at LAU; Mr. Nicolas Abu Faisal, President of the Industrialists’ Association in Bekaa; Ms. Chantal Akl, Former General Director at the Ministry of Industry; Dr. Mohammad Abiad, Professor of Food Science and Director of LEAF at AUB; and Mrs. Mira Sidnawy, Chief Development Officer at the Michel Daher Foundation. The discussion was moderated by Mrs. Valerie Zaka, Founder of The Industrial Kingdom Consulting Services.

Food loss and food waste: why the distinction matters

We often use the terms food loss and food waste interchangeably, but they describe different parts of the food journey.

Food loss generally refers to food that is lost between production and the point of retail — for example during harvesting, handling, storage, transportation or processing.

Food waste occurs later, particularly at the retail, food service and household level, when food that could still have been consumed is discarded.

Both represent lost value, and both matter.

For an event focused on the food industry, looking at food loss means asking an important question: How can we protect more of the food we are already producing as it moves through the supply chain?

Why does food loss matter so much for Lebanon?

For Lebanon, food loss cannot be looked at only through the lens of sustainability. It is also a question of food security, economic efficiency and resilience.

Lebanon remains highly dependent on food imports. According to FAO's latest 2026 assessment, domestic cereal production is estimated at around 160,000 tons, while cereal import requirements for the 2026/27 marketing year are forecast at approximately 1.3 million tons.

This makes protecting the food that is already produced, processed and brought into the country particularly important.

The challenge does not end at the factory gate. Food waste at the later stages of the food chain is also significant. According to the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024, Lebanon generates an estimated 701,828 tons of household food waste every year, equivalent to approximately 128 kg per person annually. UNEP classifies the confidence in Lebanon's estimate as medium, reflecting limitations in the available national data.

The two issues are connected but addressing them requires looking at different stages of the food system.

The hidden cost of food loss

When food is lost during production, handling, storage or processing, we are not only losing the product itself.

We are also losing the water, energy, agricultural inputs, labor, transportation, packaging and investment that went into producing and moving that food.

And Lebanon's agricultural sector has already faced enormous pressures.

A joint assessment by FAO, Lebanon's Ministry of Agriculture and the National Council for Scientific Research-Lebanon found that the country's agriculture sector suffered an estimated USD 118 million in damages and USD 586 million in losses as a result of the conflict between October 2023 and November 2024.

At a time when Lebanon needs to strengthen its food systems and rebuild agricultural value chains, protecting what we already produce becomes even more important.

Where can industry make a difference?

Food loss can happen at many points along the value chain — from harvesting and handling to storage, processing, transportation and distribution.

This is where better processes, technology and investment can make a real difference.

For food manufacturers, reducing loss can mean:

improving yield from raw materials;
reducing damage during handling and processing;
improving storage and shelf life;
strengthening quality control;
optimizing production lines;
improving planning and resource use; and
finding new value for products or by-products that might otherwise be discarded.

At The Industrial Kingdom, this is an area that particularly resonates with our work.

We believe technology should not be introduced simply because it is available. It should solve a real operational problem and create measurable value.

When it comes to food loss, that means understanding where losses occur, identifying their causes and determining which combination of process improvement, technology, automation and better decision-making can address them.

Bringing Lebanon's food community together

Perhaps one of the most valuable aspects of this event was the opportunity to bring different parts of Lebanon's food ecosystem into the same conversation.

Academia, industry, government, development organizations and food-sector professionals each bring a different perspective to the same challenge.

And this is exactly why these conversations matter.

We need to ask:

Where are we losing food?

Why are we losing it?

What is the real cost to businesses and to society?

Which solutions are practical for Lebanon?

And perhaps most importantly:

How can we work together to turn these challenges into opportunities?

No single organization can solve food loss alone.

It requires collaboration across the value chain, better data, investment in infrastructure and technology, stronger knowledge-sharing, and a willingness to look at food production and processing as an interconnected system.

From conversation to action

We were excited to be part of this initiative and grateful to the FAO, Lebanese American University, American University of Beirut and the Michel Daher Social Foundation, as well as to the speakers, participants and everyone working to advance this important conversation.

Bringing the community together is an important first step.

The next step is turning the conversation into action.

We hope that the discussions and connections created through this event will lead to stronger partnerships, practical solutions and measurable progress in reducing food loss across Lebanon's food industry; while also contributing to a wider effort to reduce food waste at every stage of the food system.

Because reducing food loss and waste is not simply about throwing away less.

It is about getting more value from what we already produce, protecting our resources, strengthening our food systems and building a more efficient, resilient and sustainable future for Lebanon.

And that is a conversation we are proud to be part of.