Food loss and waste pose significant challenges to global food security, economic development, and environmental sustainability. Pacific Island Countries (PICs), with limited resources, being geographically isolated, and vulnerable to climate change, face unique challenges when it comes to the issue of food loss. This scoping review aims to systematically map the literature on food loss in PICs, addressing knowledge gaps and understanding specific methodological aspects. The review utilizes the PRISMA-ScR process to identify, categorize, and synthesize relevant literature, offering a comprehensive overview of the existing evidence. Studies focusing on food loss in PICs published in English from 2011 to 2023 were included. Exclusion criteria considered studies conducted outside PICs, those lacking food loss reduction interventions, and non-peer-reviewed sources. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using the databases of JSTOR, Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science. A total of 5,787 studies for food loss interventions were identified and out of these only 49 met the inclusion criteria. A notable increase in publications from 2011, with a significant surge in 2018 and 2019, indicate a growing interest on the topic. The review reveals a limited focus on this issue across individual PICs and underscores the need for more localized expertise in the region. The review also highlights critical inefficiencies in PIC food supply chains and the need for more studies outside the common root crop agricultural system. The scoping review identified three thematic categories addressing food loss in PICs, namely., the lack of infrastructure and need for innovative technology for post-harvest management; increased vulnerability to climate change and postharvest risks of newer convenient markets. The findings underscore the need for holistic and context-specific approaches to create resilient and sustainable food systems in the Pacific, providing valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners involved in addressing these challenges.

Climate change is impacting Pacific Island food systems, reducing household food security, resilience and economic stability. This study examines climate change impacts on taro food loss in Upolu, Samoa, and Tongatapu, Tonga, focusing on postharvest handling and strategies to improve food security. It compares taro farmer climate change perceptions, postharvest handling and losses to highlight similarities and differences in taro farming practices in Samoa and Tonga. Data for this study were collected through farmer interviews and taro shelf-life analysis. Seventy farmers were surveyed, and eight were shadowed from harvest to sale. The study findings reveal that climate change factors including shifting rainfall patterns and extreme weather events exacerbate postharvest losses. Non-climatic factors such as labor shortages, poor handling, limited transportation, and poor storage practices are primary factors also contributing to the affordability and availability of taro. Farmers have adopted strategies such as the use of early warning systems, prompt harvesting and soil protection practices to mitigate climate change induced losses. By linking climate change, food security, and food loss along the taro value chain, the study enhances understanding of the postharvest handling procedures of taro in Samoa and Tonga and identifies strategies for policies that can provide support for infrastructure development for fostering sustainable, climate-resilient taro farming systems in the Pacific Islands.

Postharvest losses in Pacific Island Countries remain a significant challenge, affecting food security and farmers’ livelihoods. Limited research exists on horticultural handling practices in the region, particularly on taro corm bruising. This study characterised defects in taro corms caused by poor physical handling using a simulated laboratory drop test with two drop heights (1 m and 2 m), two drop frequencies (1 and 4 drops), and three storage durations (3, 5, and 7 days). It examined the combined effects of the drop test on external bruising, internal bruise depth, bruise severity scores, and visible decay incidence. Data were collected using the laboratory drop test, samples of farmer-handled taro, and farmer interviews. The results showed that the increased drop height and repeated impacts significantly increased severity, depth, and length over time. Corms subjected to the higher drop height (2 m) exhibited greater tissue breakdown; by day 7, corms dropped from 2 m had approximately 47% greater bruise depth than those dropped from 1 m. Statistical analysis confirmed that the drop height, the storage duration, and the drop frequency were key determinants of postharvest deterioration (p < 0.05). Mechanical stress also weakened corm integrity, increasing susceptibility to infection and decay. These findings underscore the need for improved postharvest handling practices, such as minimising free-fall distances, using padded storage and adopting better sorting methods to reduce mechanical injury. Enhancing these practices could substantially reduce food loss, extend taro shelf life and improve marketability, thereby supporting more resilient and sustainable food systems and contributing to food security and economic stability for taro farmers in the Pacific.

Food loss is often framed as a technical inefficiency in agricultural supply chains; however, in climate-vulnerable regions such as the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) it also reflects deeper structural dynamics within food systems. This study develops the Food Loss–Resilience Systems Framework to examine how food loss both arises from and shapes the resilience capacity of climate-exposed agricultural systems. The framework was created through an integrative synthesis of empirical evidence, drawing on a regional scoping review of food loss literature, field studies of taro value chains and experimental research on post-harvest deterioration of taro in Samoa and Tonga, and comparative analyses of food loss in dairy farming systems in Fiji and Australia. The synthesis demonstrates that food loss arises through interacting climatic, biological, infrastructural, livelihood, and institutional processes operating across production and postharvest stages. Climatic variability amplifies existing structural constraints such as limited storage infrastructure, labor disruptions, and fragmented governance, accelerating deterioration and reducing productivity. The framework further shows that food loss shapes economic viability, environmental efficiency, socio-cultural stability, and long-term adaptive capacity within food systems. By conceptualizing food loss both as an embedded outcome of system interactions and as a diagnostic indicator of resilience capacity, the study reframes it as a signal of broader food-system performance under climatic stress. Integrating efforts to reduce food loss into climate-adaptation and food-system governance strategies is therefore critical to strengthening the resilience capacity of Pacific agricultural systems.