Evaluating assumptions about food distribution mechanisms

Statement 1 is a valid assumption. The text underscores that food is lost or wasted across the entire supply chain, spanning from initial cultivation down to regular home consumption. Minimizing this lifecycle loss logically requires reworking and optimizing the distribution framework.

Statement 2 presents a moral imperative, claiming reduction is the "social and moral responsibility of all citizens". While ethically sounding, this normative framing is completely absent from the text, which analyzes the crisis strictly through ecological, resource, and infrastructural lenses[cite: 937, 938, 940].

Answer: (a).