Despite this
- 42.2 million Americans are food insecure
- 13.1 million children are food insecure
- 42% of UC students are food insecure
So why does the US throw away 70 billion pounds of food when millions are food insecure? That's a tricky question to answer. A lot of it has to do with access to, distribution of, means to purchase, and the policies regarding the handling of food.
Bad weather can lead to a poor crop yield; which raises prices for consumers and lowers income for farmers. People living in food deserts have little or no access to nutritious food, because it is not distributed to their area. Most importantly there are businesses with policies that demand employees throw away edible and unexpired food that could otherwise be sold or donated.
Food waste only serves to aggravate the problem.
What is food waste?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
Food loss: Food that gets spilled or spoilt before it reaches its final product or retail stage
Food waste: Food that is fit for human consumption, but is not consumed because it is or left to spoil or discarded by retailers or consumers
It's difficult to imagine just how much food is being wasted in America alone. Good thing I was able to find a visual!
Where is food wasted?
According to the FAO, third world countries see most of their food loss occur in the early stages of the supply chain. This is likely due to a lack of access to high-tech farming methods, adequate storage facilities, and effective refrigeration. Things that are difficult to control given the political and economic options available to these nations.
What about the US? Well, industrialized nations tend to see most of their food waste occur in the later stages of the supply chain. This is during retail or after purchase.
This is problematic, as the later food is lost or wasted, the greater the environmental implications.
Why is that? Consider all of the money, fuel, employees, and time that is spent to sorting, transporting, and selling the products. If an apple falls on the ground in the orchard, the cost of gathering, transporting, and selling it disappears.
Now that you know that, it may not surprise you to learn that
According to the FAO, third world countries see most of their food loss occur in the early stages of the supply chain. This is likely due to a lack of access to high-tech farming methods, adequate storage facilities, and effective refrigeration. Things that are difficult to control given the political and economic options available to these nations.
What about the US? Well, industrialized nations tend to see most of their food waste occur in the later stages of the supply chain. This is during retail or after purchase.
This is problematic, as the later food is lost or wasted, the greater the environmental implications.
Why is that? Consider all of the money, fuel, employees, and time that is spent to sorting, transporting, and selling the products. If an apple falls on the ground in the orchard, the cost of gathering, transporting, and selling it disappears.
Now that you know that, it may not surprise you to learn that
"Per capita waste by consumers is between 95-115 kg a year in Europe and North America, while consumers in sub-Saharan Africa, south and south-eastern Asia, each throw away only 6-11 kg a year." (FOA)
Why is food being wasted?
In the United States this is for a wide variety of reasons: accidental, circumstantial, and intentional.
Cosmetics
The age of of genetically modified produce has spoiled us. While organic food has been trending as early as 2003, this doesn't necessarily mean that it hasn't been genetically modified.*
Consumers have high expectations and are rarely willing to purchase food that is bruised or less than perfect. This, in turn, leads super markets to disposing of their less than perfect produce.
However, as I've come to learn, cosmetics don't necessarily impact the quality of your produce.
* Genetic modification includes selective breeding
Fresh Food Displays
Stores like to keep their shelves and displays fully stocked. When it comes to fresh food displays it can get pretty wasteful.
Firstly, keeping the displays fully stocked increases the amount of food that is wasted at the end of the day. NPR reports that when it comes to prepared meals, employees can't "repackage it, freeze it, hold on to it... [or] distribute it" after the end of the day.
That's not the only waste. Hot meals need to be kept at a constant temperature. Think of all the energy we're wasting on food that we're going to throw away!
That's not the only waste. Hot meals need to be kept at a constant temperature. Think of all the energy we're wasting on food that we're going to throw away!
There's a lot of confusion when it comes to sell-by and best-by dates. These dates are more for the benefit of the stores and workers, it does not mean that the food has expired.
In fact, products are usually good a week or two (sometimes longer) after the "expiration" date. For example on March 20th I made scramble eggs out of a carton that said "Sell-by Feb 12". I didn't get sick and there wasn't anything "off" about them.
I'm not sure if there's a way to know definitively that you're eggs are good, but if you crack one open and it doesn't reek of death, I'd say you're on the right path.
Accidents
In any industry accidents are bound to happen. Produce can be dropped. Trucks can get into accidents. Product gets damaged and thats just an unavoidable waste.
Food Deserts
This is an access and distribution failure. Food deserts are areas in which people don't have a grocery store of some sort within 1 mile of their home (urban areas) or 10 miles (rural areas).
Often time the only food people have access to in these areas come from
In any industry accidents are bound to happen. Produce can be dropped. Trucks can get into accidents. Product gets damaged and thats just an unavoidable waste.
Food Deserts
This is an access and distribution failure. Food deserts are areas in which people don't have a grocery store of some sort within 1 mile of their home (urban areas) or 10 miles (rural areas).
Often time the only food people have access to in these areas come from
- gas stations
- convenience stores
- liquor stores
Not only can the foods in these stores be more expensive (and food deserts are more common in lower socioeconomic areas) but they're usually less nutritious.
If produce is compostable, why does it matter if it goes to landfill?
Throwing your food into landfill is actually one of the worst things you could do. When food breaks down it creates methane gas, which is "23 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat within our atmosphere." Not to mention, that landfills make up 34% of our methane gas emissions.
Food isn't exempt from the waste hierarchy. We need to refuse what we won't eat. Reduce the quantities we buy in, if we have trouble finishing it before expiration. Reuse, repurpose, and recycle don't exactly fit for this tip, but its close enough. With your edible scraps consider feeding them to you dog (make sure that what you are feeding them is edible to them).
Some environmentally conscious canneries will send their scraps and slurries to pig farmers to divert the waste from landfill.
However, if for whatever reason, you do not have a pig (or dog) on hand. Consider starting a small compost bin. If you don't have time to manage one, just use it for collection and add your waste to your university's bin, should they have one.
Throwing your food into landfill is actually one of the worst things you could do. When food breaks down it creates methane gas, which is "23 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat within our atmosphere." Not to mention, that landfills make up 34% of our methane gas emissions.
Food isn't exempt from the waste hierarchy. We need to refuse what we won't eat. Reduce the quantities we buy in, if we have trouble finishing it before expiration. Reuse, repurpose, and recycle don't exactly fit for this tip, but its close enough. With your edible scraps consider feeding them to you dog (make sure that what you are feeding them is edible to them).
Some environmentally conscious canneries will send their scraps and slurries to pig farmers to divert the waste from landfill.
However, if for whatever reason, you do not have a pig (or dog) on hand. Consider starting a small compost bin. If you don't have time to manage one, just use it for collection and add your waste to your university's bin, should they have one.
What can be done? Who is taking initiative?
A great effort that is being made in my local area, is Bogg's Track Community Farm.
Bogg's Track has done some wonderful work locally, by addressing the issue of food deserts. This urban farm encourages local families to come together as a community and grow their own food.
They also offer intensive training, opportunities to learn about making jam, and summer programs for kids and teens!
Solving food insecurity and food waste problems isn't just up to the community though. Policy is another important factor. For that we can look to France
France has made some bold policies to address the obscene amounts of waste in grocery stores and supermarkets. Grocery stores are subject to heavy fines if they don't donate their food.
While this is good move in the right direction, it does seem to have revealed some bumps in the road. Some donation centers worry they may not have the ability handle the heavy increase in donations.
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