One in seven Brits don't realise that pumpkin insides are food, study shows

Over 12 million British pumpkins carved for this year's Halloween will be thrown away as food waste, new research shows.

According to Hubbub, a food charity, around 14% of us who celebrate the spooky season do not realise that the insides of pumpkins are considered edible.

This comes as a poll of 3,000 UK adults showed that more than half of the total pumpkins bought for Halloween, simply to do not get eaten.

This contribution to food waste alone highlights the growing issues of the UK's avoidable waste which also includes bread crusts and potato skins.

The head of food programmes at Hubbub, Tessa Tricks, said: “We know that over lockdown many people developed a love of cooking from scratch and are valuing food more, so we’re urging people to make the most of every part of this nutritious and versatile food. Every pumpkin eaten is a step towards tackling the 6.6m tonnes of food and drink thrown away from UK homes every year.”

Out of the 12.76 million thrown away pumpkins, it is estimated that around 2 million simply get thrown in the household bin, rather than more eco-friendly means of composting or leaving out for birds.