Malaysians Waste Up To 97.3kg Of Food Per Year

KUALA LUMPUR: Overall, household food waste in Malaysia is estimated to range between 31.9 kilograms and 97.3 kilograms per capita annually.

The findings of the 2025 National Household Indicators Survey (NHIS) show that food waste in the country is on par with the global average of 79 kg per capita per year.

The statistics, released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), which published the Special Release: Household Food Waste in Malaysia 2025, also found that 79.3 per cent of households dispose of food waste in mixed form, while 20.7 per cent practice separation.

The majority of households discard less than 500 grams of food per week, accounting for 48.2 per cent for raw food and 45.6 per cent for processed or cooked food.

According to DOSM further, 94.1 per cent of households were reported to discard processed or cooked food, compared to 88.7 per cent for raw food.

“A more detailed analysis by food type shows that vegetables (29.1 per cent) represent the most wasted category among raw food, followed by fruits (22.4 per cent) and fish or seafood (15 per cent).

“As for processed or cooked food, rice (16.7 per cent) recorded the highest wastage rate, followed by vegetables (15.8 per cent) and food purchased from outside (13.8 per cent).

“The report also identified that expired food (19.3 per cent) is the main cause of household food waste,” he said.

He added that other contributing factors include storing excess food in the refrigerator or freezer for too long, which recorded 18.1 per cent.

“Other contributors are over-purchasing (15.2 per cent) and cooking in excessive quantities (15.1 per cent),” he said.

Harian Metro