Food storage spans farm supply chains, commercial warehouses, household appliances, and the time food remains safe or useful at home. The statistics below distinguish food loss from food waste, identify measurement years and geographies, and separate observed inventories, estimates, surveys, and official storage guidance.
Key Food Storage Statistics
These highlights capture the most broadly useful food storage figures in the supplied evidence:
- In 2023, 13.3% of food was lost globally after harvest through storage, wholesale, and processing, according to the FAO estimate.
- In 2023, Sub-Saharan Africa had a 23.0% food-loss estimate, the highest listed FAO regional estimate.
- In 2023, fruits and vegetables had a 25.4% global food-loss estimate, according to the FAO.
- In 2022, global food waste was estimated at 1.05 billion tonnes across households, food service, and retail.
- In 2022, households accounted for 60% of global food waste, according to UNEP.
- In 2022, global food waste was estimated at 132 kilograms per person per year.
- In 2020, nearly 99% of U.S. homes had a refrigerator, based on the U.S. Residential Energy Consumption Survey.
- In 2020, 33% of U.S. homes had a separate freezer, according to the same survey.
- In 2020, a separate freezer cost U.S. homes an average of US$74 per year to operate.
- On January 31, 2024, U.S. cold warehouses held 1,456.506 million pounds of natural cheese.
- On January 31, 2024, U.S. cold warehouses held 829.182 million pounds of frozen chicken.
- In 2010, 133 billion pounds of food went uneaten at U.S. retail and consumer levels, according to USDA ERS.
- In 2010, uneaten food represented 31% of the 430-billion-pound U.S. food supply available at retail and consumer levels.
- In 2016, supermarket loss for 24 fresh fruits totaled 4.7 billion pounds after removing inedible parts.
- FoodSafety.gov defines home refrigerator storage as 40°F (4°C) or below in its chart reviewed September 19, 2023.
- FoodSafety.gov defines home freezer storage as 0°F (-18°C) or below in the same chart.
- FoodSafety.gov lists raw eggs in the shell for 3–5 weeks in a refrigerator.
- FoodSafety.gov lists ground meat and ground poultry for 3–4 months in a freezer at 0°F (-18°C) or below.
Contents
- Global food loss and waste statistics
- Household food storage adoption and energy
- Commercial cold-storage inventory data
- Food availability and retail loss outcomes
- Food storage temperatures and home-safety windows
- Freezer and pantry storage durations
Global Food Loss and Waste Statistics
Food loss and food waste are related but different measures. The FAO measure covers post-harvest loss on farms, during transport, storage, wholesale, and processing, while excluding retail; UNEP covers food waste from households, food service, and retail and includes inedible parts, so the figures are not additive without adjusting their scopes.
The FAO estimated global post-harvest food loss at 13.3% in 2023, compared with a 13.0% baseline in 2015. Its 2023 regional estimates ranged from 10.0% in Northern America and Europe to 23.0% in Sub-Saharan Africa.
| FAO food-loss estimate | Period | Geography or commodity | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall post-harvest loss | 2023 | Global | 13.3% |
| Baseline post-harvest loss | 2015 | Global | 13.0% |
| Regional low | 2023 | Northern America and Europe | 10.0% |
| Regional high | 2023 | Sub-Saharan Africa | 23.0% |
| Regional estimate | 2023 | Eastern and Southeastern Asia | 13.9% |
| Commodity estimate | 2023 | Fruits and vegetables | 25.4% |
| Commodity estimate | 2023 | Meat and animal products | 14.0% |
| Commodity estimate | 2023 | Cereals and pulses | 8.4% |
| Commodity estimate | 2023 | Roots, tubers, and oil-bearing crops | 12.3% |
UNEP estimated 1.05 billion tonnes of food waste globally in 2022, or 132 kilograms per person per year. Households accounted for 60%, food service for 28%, and retail for 12% of that measure.
- UNEP reported that 783 million people were affected by hunger in 2022.
- Food loss and waste were estimated to generate 8%–10% of annual global greenhouse-gas emissions, using recent data reported in 2024.
- The global economic toll of food loss and waste was estimated at roughly US$1 trillion annually in the 2024 report estimate.
- Only 21 countries had included food-loss or food-waste reduction in national climate plans as of 2022.
- Observed average household food waste differed by only 7 kilograms per person per year across three income groups in UNEP’s 2022 dataset.
- UNEP reported a 31% reduction in Japan’s food waste in the national time series cited in 2024.
UNEP’s global figures are model-based and have uneven country data coverage; only four G20 countries plus the European Union had estimates suitable for 2030 tracking. Source: World squanders over 1 billion meals a day – UN report.
Household Food Storage Adoption and Energy
U.S. household appliance data shows how common refrigerated storage is and how often homes maintain additional capacity. These are 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey estimates for occupied homes and rely on self-reported appliance presence.
| Household storage measure | United States, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Homes with a refrigerator | Nearly 99% |
| Homes with two or more refrigerators | 34% |
| Homes with a separate freezer | 33% |
| Midwest homes with a second refrigerator | 38% |
| Midwest homes with a separate freezer | 44% |
The EIA estimated average annual operating costs at about US$87 for the most-used refrigerator, US$66 for a second refrigerator, and US$74 for a separate freezer in U.S. homes in 2020. These are operating costs, not purchase prices.
Source: Electricity use in homes – U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Commercial Cold-Storage Inventory Data
Commercial cold warehouses provide inventory snapshots rather than measures of household capacity or annual throughput. The U.S. figures below were reported in thousands of pounds and are presented here in the source’s million-pound units for January 31, 2024.
| Product in U.S. cold warehouses | Stocks on January 31, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Shelled pecans | 33.245 million pounds |
| In-shell pecans | 139.455 million pounds |
| Butter | 247.588 million pounds |
| American natural cheese | 839.788 million pounds |
| Swiss natural cheese | 21.782 million pounds |
| Other natural cheese | 594.936 million pounds |
| Total natural cheese | 1,456.506 million pounds |
| Frozen eggs | 29.399 million pounds |
| Frozen chicken | 829.182 million pounds |
| Total frozen poultry | 1,133.440 million pounds |
The natural-cheese total and frozen-poultry total are reported stock categories, not calculations of household consumption or yearly production. Source: Cold Storage 2024 Summary.
Food Availability and Retail Loss Outcomes
USDA ERS estimated that 133 billion pounds of food went uneaten at U.S. retail and consumer levels in 2010, representing 31% of the 430-billion-pound food supply available at those levels. The same estimate put the retail value at US$162 billion and the uneaten food supply at 141 trillion kilocalories.
- U.S. uneaten food at retail and consumer levels averaged roughly 1.2 pounds per person per day in 2010.
- The retail value of U.S. uneaten food averaged more than US$1.40 per person per day in 2010.
ERS also estimated supermarket losses for fresh produce in 2016. The estimates use a different measurement basis from the 2010 total, so they should not be combined as one time series.
| U.S. supermarket loss estimate | 2016 estimate before inedible parts | 2016 estimate after inedible parts |
|---|---|---|
| 31 fresh vegetables | 6.2 billion pounds per year | 5 billion pounds per year |
| 24 fresh fruits | 6.7 billion pounds | 4.7 billion pounds |
Source: Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System – Food Loss. The ERS figures are U.S. estimates and proxies; the 2010 total and 2016 supermarket estimates use different measurement bases.
Food Storage Temperatures and Home-Safety Windows
FoodSafety.gov’s chart, reviewed September 19, 2023, defines the home refrigerator condition as 40°F (4°C) or below and the home freezer condition as 0°F (-18°C) or below. The durations are official home-storage guidance rather than observed household behavior.
| Food | Refrigerator guidance |
|---|---|
| Egg, chicken, ham, tuna, and macaroni salads | 3–4 days |
| Raw sausage | 1–2 days |
| Fresh beef, veal, lamb, and pork steaks | 3–5 days |
| Fatty fish | 1–3 days |
| Raw eggs in the shell | 3–5 weeks |
| Cooked meat or poultry leftovers | 3–4 days |
These windows describe storage at the stated temperature threshold; they are not adoption or compliance rates. Source: Cold Food Storage Chart.
Freezer and Pantry Storage Durations
At 0°F (-18°C) or below, FoodSafety.gov’s freezer durations generally address quality guidance. The following ranges help distinguish short freezer windows from products listed for much longer storage.
| Food | Freezer guidance |
|---|---|
| Opened hot dogs | 1–2 months |
| Ground meat and ground poultry | 3–4 months |
| Whole chicken or turkey | 1 year |
| Shrimp and crayfish | 6–18 months |
| Raw egg whites and yolks | 12 months; yolks do not freeze well |
| Vegetable or meat soups and stews | 2–3 months |
| Unopened shelf-stable canned ham at room temperature | 2 years |
The canned-ham entry is pantry-style, room-temperature guidance rather than freezer storage. All durations in this section come from the same official chart reviewed September 19, 2023, which emphasizes that freezer durations generally concern quality at 0°F (-18°C) or below.
Source: Cold Food Storage Chart.