[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')ven as millions of people starve worldover, residents in United States are wasting food like never before.

While many Americans feast on turkey and all the fixings on Thanksgiving, a new study finds food waste per person has shot up 50% since 1974. Some 1,400 calories worth of food is discarded per person each day, which adds up to 150 trillion calories a year, reports Livescience.

The study finds that about 40% of all the food produced in the US is tossed out. Meanwhile, while some have plenty of food to spare, a recent report by the department of agriculture finds the number of US homes lacking “food security”, meaning their eating habits were disrupted for lack of money, rose from 4.7 million in 2007 to 6.7 million last year.

About 1 billion people worldwide don’t have enough to eat, according to the World Food Program. The new estimate of food waste, published in PLoS ONE says: “It’s the difference between the US food supply and what’s actually eaten, which was estimated by using a model of human metabolism and known body weights.”
link

[dissident]

There is a lot of cosmetically motivated food trashing before it even sees the consumer. Vegetables with odd shapes have been dumped in the past and probably still are since the expectation is that consumers won't buy them.

I suppose that when food prices become high enough this practice will be abandoned.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '[')We'd all better hope McDonalds and Hollywood doesn't get the developing world thinking they want to eat like Americans.

[frankthetank]

We've got a lot of "fat" to cut out of the system.

No way i throw out 40% of the food i buy. I'd guess its more like 5%-10% and usually because it gets expired or forgotten out overnight or something like that. I did toss a bunch of flour (like a lot) because it had worms in it

At work i forgot to take out a turkey once (not totally my fault) and wasn't found until the next day and we had to throw it away... oops.

I once buried probably a 100 pounds of tomatoes because i didn't want to deal with them anymore. Even this past fall i composted almost every green tomato because i was so sick of them...

Think of these food recalls...

[dohboi]

I wonder how that breaks down. Is it all food that individuals are throwing away, or does the stat include grain that has spoiled in the silos and has to be thrown away and other such pre-consumer waste.

In any case, there is certainly a lot of waste in the system. Really sad that food shelves are running short in the midst of all that plenty.

Add to this the over eating many of us do, the waste of feeding grains and beans to animals rather than eating them directly, the biofuels burned in SUVs (and I won't mention the grain use to produce alcohol, since I'm about to go out to have a local brew ), and I'm guessing the US could feed two times again its own population on what it wastes, over-consumes, and uses for non-food purposes.

That's a good part of the billion that go hungry every night today.

But to keep Pretorian happy, we'll spike any donated food with contraceptives or sterility causing chemicals--though adding those to our own diets would do the world the most good, given the other quantities of the world's resources we use per capita.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', 'I')But to keep Pretorian happy, we'll spike any donated food with contraceptives or sterility causing chemicals.

[Kristjan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissident', 'T')here is a lot of cosmetically motivated food trashing before it even sees the consumer. Vegetables with odd shapes have been dumped in the past and probably still are since the expectation is that consumers won't buy them.

[vtsnowedin]

As PO kicks in or one of its surrogates this problem will take care of itself.
Dohboi, Why do you count grain used to make alcohol for human consumption wasted? A beer has 150 calories, mostly carbs and the spent grain gets fed out as cattle feed. Virtually no waste at all. When was the last time you saw someone throw out half a beer? Or a skinny beer drinker?
People do not choose to buy odd shaped vegetables. It is just a fact of human nature and can't be helped. Better to divert the odd ducks to the processing line to end up as sauce, juice or whatever that veggie can be made into.

[dohboi]

Thanks for those points, vt. Now I won't feel bad about having another pint.

I heartily agree that alcohol is good nutrition and should be fed to every child at the earliest age possible.

In fact my Milwaukee-born-and-raised third grade teacher used to tell us a story of two boys who got locked in a train car for two weeks. They survived, because the car was carrying beer, and it sustained them. And every time she told it she would conclude: "Beer has all the nutrients necessary to sustain life!"

I have struggled to sustain myself in just this way, but I confess to getting a bit wobbly sometimes.

[kpeavey]

I just can't get past a food related thread...

I came across a statistic many years ago which said the US threw away enough food to feed the entire population of Canada. That's assuming they are willing to eat our garbage.

It's a wide scale pattern, but is not so much a problem, to the US population, as it is a commonly accepted practice. We peel our potatoes and apples, discard an entire onion where the outside layer has gone by, the heels of the bread goes to the trash along with the bag, we trim the fat off our steak, don't eat the crust on the pizza. Its the way we have been brought up, the way we like our food, the things we have been taught. My brother and his family never eat leftovers. Its not so much because they can't cook to begin with, but a busy lifestyle often means you are not home to consume them. Ever wondered what was in the bowl in the back of the fridge behind the mustard and under the pesto sauce? This is part of our food culture.

I make good money. I live alone. While I can get by with a grocery bill of $25/week and eat well, I can easily afford considerably more than that, eat very high off the hog with fantastic variety. So I cook whatever the heck I want. I cook extra, eat the leftovers when I'm home. If I have something that has been around a little bit too long, it goes to the hens. Too far gone finds its way to the compost heap. Around here, at least, food that I don't or won't eat is still put to good use.

I work in places where running out for a burger is not an option. More often than not, its is a phycsical job-lots of calories are needed to keep my strength up. I bring my own lunch or I go hungry until the end of my shift, which may be 16 hours away. I take plenty. Now and then I might lose something from age or abuse. A couple of bucks here and there is nothing to me, doesn't even rate an 'oh well'-just toss it when I clean out my lunch bucket and reload.

Food stores have fantastic amounts of waste. A tomato with a blemish aint gonna sell, into the dumpster with it, along with heaps of other imperfect produce. USE BY and GOOD THRU package dating has been reduced to 1.5-2 years on most goods. Not necessarily because the food loses quality but for liability protection. Out of date goods are returned to the manufacturer or otherwise credited, then most often are discarded.

I've worked in restaurants for many years. There is considerable waste. If its not the best, it can't be served to a paying guest or they won't come back. Eggs are discarded when a yoke breaks making your #2 over easy. Lettuce with a hint of brown gets tossed. Ice cream with ice crystals? Can't serve that, toss it. A steak is returned for being overcooked gets tossed and replaced. Food service has a huge amount of waste. It's a competitive industry. If you are not serving the best product you possibly can, your business won't long survive. The US eats something like 40% of our meals away from home.

As for the billion who are not getting enough, I am unable to offer much sympathy. I've gone hungry before and can't say I much liked it, so I do understand their problem. I live in a competitive society. I compete and I have a fair amount of success in doing so. I've taken steps to ensure my ability to never go hungry again. I've had some success in this area as well. I intend to build on this success and develop an organic farm. I will be feeding others as well and yes, economics are involved as an incentive. My efforts are rewarded or my competitors will crush me into jelly. I look out for me because nobody else is.

---
dohboi's post came up while I was posting and I have to give him a LOL.

[vtsnowedin]

The chickens we raised this year are a great recycling /composting machine. There is now almost no food waste here as they are always looking for a treat. The wife goes out every day with at least a couple of slices of bread and they come to her on the run to get their share. Garbage out eggs back, works great. I do need to come up with a grinder to grind up pork chop bones and such into bone meal for them.
Something to consider this winter while I sit by the fire with a cold brew in my glass.

[Sixstrings]

Good post, kpeavey.

I'm not so sure that quality standards that are too high is behind all the waste, though. Food is better looking and of higher quality in France for example, and yet I doubt they're wasting 40% of their food.

I think a lot of waste comes down to the fact that our food is crap to begin with. You want to know why nobody eats the ends of a loaf of bread? Well, your typical store-bought wonderbread doesn't even taste like bread is supposed to taste. At least that's how it works for me.. first thing I do with manufactured bread is throw away that end slice. But if I bake my own, that nicely crusty end part is the first eaten.

I think a big part of this waste issue could be our American obsession with portion size -- you know, the bigger the better. We Americans are famous for our all-you-can-eat buffet obsession. And over the years, restaurant dinner plates have grown to the size of what used to be a serving platter for a whole family. In America, the restaurant that gives you too much to eat is the one that gets a return visit.

This obsession with food abundance is cultural. Our roots are agrarian, back in the days when you needed a big meal so you could work in the fields all day.

I think the bottom line is that if Americans ate higher quality food, cooked with skill and rich in nutrients, flavor, and texture, then we'd end up eating less (and wasting less). We're eating way too many simple carbohydrates -- all of our food is extremely processed now. It's a lot easier to gorge on that kind of food than it is more complex dishes (which is why people like wonderbread and not bakery bread).

[JJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissident', 'T')here is a lot of cosmetically motivated food trashing before it even sees the consumer. Vegetables with odd shapes have been dumped in the past and probably still are since the expectation is that consumers won't buy them.

I suppose that when food prices become high enough this practice will be abandoned.

[Ludi]

There's no way you can give that food to shelters?

[JJ]

Ludi, the meat and produce HAVE to go into a compactor which is inside the store. Insurance regulations. CASA picks up all the day old bread. Return Goods Center gets all the damaged (dented cans, etc.) Distributed to food banks in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mexico, to the tune of billions of dollars every year. This grocery gets a ten percent of purchase rebate from all the vendors to cover damages. WinWin for us.

I used to take it all home for my chickens/compost pile (co-worker said dang Jay, can't see your neighbors house anymore) One day the store director told me, "you know Jay, a guy said he was taking this stuff home for his pigs, and he was really selling it, and someone got sick and sued *&%$*, and now its grounds for dismissal if an employee takes anything out the door without paying for it" My boss doesn't care, sometimes I'll get a box of pineapples or papayas for a dollar, but mostly it's just too much hassle.

I would hazard a guess to say we throw away a lot more than 40%.

edited to add:
all the fat and bone and meat scraps are sold to the dog food company...

[dohboi]

I read somewhere (sorry, don't have the link anymore) that various food producers regularly pour bleach over anything they throw into their dumpsters for any reason to prevent people taking it out and eating it.

On the other hand, Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest) has become the charity with the largest $ equivalent donations by finding ways to get some of this type of edible-but-not-perfect food to people who need it.

link

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', 'I') read somewhere (sorry, don't have the link anymore) that various food producers regularly pour bleach over anything they throw into their dumpsters for any reason to prevent people taking it out and eating it.

[JJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', 'I') read somewhere (sorry, don't have the link anymore) that various food producers regularly pour bleach over anything they throw into their dumpsters for any reason to prevent people taking it out and eating it.

On the other hand, Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest) has become the charity with the largest $ equivalent donations by finding ways to get some of this type of edible-but-not-perfect food to people who need it.

link

[Kristjan]

Nice video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwGHlUAj078

By the way, does anyone here have a link to the statistics about the waste that the EU creates each year? I know that they haul millions of kilograms of grain into furnaces each year because supposedly it is 'surplus food' (produced over the quota), but I haven't been able to track down the data. I tried google but didn't find anything - I guess I am using the wrong keywords or something.

[Kristjan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he bounty produced from a plot of land was too valuable to waste. Not to grow a garden or care for fruiting shrubs and trees was considered unpatriotic. To fail to preserve its bounty was downright un-American. One 1946, Department of Agriculture poster carried the message, "Am I Proud -- I'm fighting famine . . . by canning food at home."