A new study has found that up to half of all food worldwide is going to waste. Britain’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers says that at least 1.2 billion of the four billion tons of food produced each year is thrown out due to problems with harvesting, transporting and storage, as well as wasteful behavior from sellers and consumers. The report calls food wastage “a tragedy that cannot continue if we are to succeed in the challenge of sustainably meeting our future food demands.” The findings come as nations across the globe continue to grapple with soaring food prices. Brendan Cox of the group Save the Children said soaring food costs threaten to cause more needless deaths.

Brendan Cox: “What we’re saying today is there is a new normal of high food prices. Just in the last year, we’ve seen wheat and maize increase by 25 percent, and that’s having a real impact on children’s lives. We already know that around three million children are dying every year as a result of malnutrition, and we think the food price crisis this year, but what could happen next year, could make that situation much worse.”