Abstract
Vegetables and fruits contain many phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals, and dietary fibers that are good for human health. However, on a global scale, a substantial amount (25–50%) of fruits and vegetables is lost from farm to fork, together called post-harvest losses. These losses represent both food security and environmental issue and therefore counteract any effort to build sustainable food systems since they deprive populations of a considerable amount of healthy food and represent a huge waste of resources. A significant obstacle in achieving mitigation of post-harvest losses is the lack of precise knowledge of the actual magnitudes of losses, which makes it impossible to measure progress against any loss reduction targets. After a brief historical sight on how science addressed the issue, this chapter will present the concepts and definitions of fruits and vegetables food loss and waste and finally review the state of knowledge about the magnitude, distribution in the food supply chain, and main causes of fruits and vegetables food loss and waste for this category of products.