Lifestyles of Eating
Food Waste In America
10 Facts About Food Waste
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40% of the food made in the United States goes uneaten.
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If food waste in the entire world were to become it's own country, it would make up the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
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50% of all the produce in the United states is thrown away, so $160 billion worth of produce is trashed.
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The United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization discovered that 1/3 of food grown globally is lost or wasted.
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Most of the food grown doesn't reach stores because they contain blemishes that sellers believe and consumers have been conditioned not to buy.
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France has banned supermarkets from throwing away food, and has told markets to either compost the materials or to give them to charity.
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Best buy dates are usually determined by quality, and have little to do with when the food actually spoils.
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The reason most supermarkets throw out their food is because of: overstocked products, expectation of cosmetic perfection, oversized packaging, sell by dates, and the list goes on an on.
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In the U.S., only 3% of food is composted, the rest goes into landfills.
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Irrigation used to grow food that is never eaten would meet the water demands of 9 billion people.
Causes of Food Waste
What exactly are sell by, use by, and best by dates?
The use by/sell by/and best/before by dates reflect on the quality of the product, not when the product is spoiled.
In fact, in the U.S., product dating is not required by the federal government on any product, except for infant formula.
Manufacturers are the ones who decide the product dating. Some states also have some product dating laws. Also, there is a difference between Use-By, Sell-By, and Best-By product coding.
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Best-By: indicates to consumers when the product will be of the best quality or flavor.
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Sell-By: indicates to the seller how long to display the product before it is to be disposed of.
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Used-By: indicates to the consumer the last date recommended for the use of the product at peak quality.
Is Food Waste Always the Fault of the Consumer?
40% of food grown doesn't meet the mouth of most people. Why, you may ask?
Image found on Google.
Image found on Google
Image found on Google.
Many Growers are forced to throw away a large amount of their yield that they consider "ugly" and write it off as a loss. Because no farmer can accurately depict the weather, most farmers will overplant so that if there is a disaster, they still have enough left over to feed themselves.
There also comes a time in the season in which it is no longer economically feasible for the farmers to continue to harvest their yield. And for most farmers who plant more than they need, for security, this can mean a lot of food is just left in the ground to rot.
Reducing Food Waste
Plan Meals
An easy way to prevent food waste, is to plan you meals ahead of going to the grocery store. Planning ahead also saves you money, so you don't have to waste our money on a bunch of ingredients that make anything together.
Consider Composting
Some food waste is unavoidable, instead of throwing it away to sit in a landfill, consider starting a compost pile. Not only can your reuse your food waste, but it enables you to start your own garden.