Hunger is a crime in a country that throws away $165 billion worth of food each year. That is equivalent to 20 pounds of food per month per person in the US. How can our government let people go hungry when this much food is going to waste? The answer is MONEY. By manufacturing the myth of scarcity, prices can be driven up and more profits made. We are sold on the idea that resources are limited and there is not enough for everyone. This is a lie. There is enough it is just controlled by corporations.
- 7% of fields in the US are not harvested each year. The produce is left to rot in the filed or be plowed under because market prices as too low and farmers can’t afford to take a loss. “If market prices are too low at the time of harvest, growers may leave some crops in the field because they will not cover their costs after accounting for the costs of labor and transport.”
- Food is thrown away based on looks not whether it is edible. “Culling is the removal of products based on quality or appearance criteria, including specifications for size, color, weight, blemish level, and Brix (a measure of sugar content).”
A large tomato-packing house reported that in mid-season it can fill a dump truck with 22,000 pounds of discarded tomatoes every 40 minutes.30 And a packer of citrus, stone fruit, and grapes estimated that 20 to 50 percent of the produce he handles is unmarketable but perfectly edible.
- Supermarkets throw away 1 in seven truckloads of perishable foods delivered “supermarkets on average discard $2,300 per store worth of out-of-date food every day. Almost all of this food is still consumable but may have a limited shelf life left.”
- As much as 10% of food purchased by restaurants becomes kitchen loss, both edible and inedible, before reaching the consumer.
- Restaurant diners leave 17 % of meals uneaten and 55 % of these potential leftovers are not taken home.
- American families throw out approximately 25% of the food and beverages they buy. The cost estimate for the average family of four is $1,365 to $2,275 a year.
Source http://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf
What YOU Can Do!
- Stop throwing away food!! If you have something you don’t want or its going to go bad before you will eat it give it to a friend or neighbor.
- If you don’t like to eat leftovers make a plate and take it to an elderly neighbor or invite some friends over for dinner.
- Talk to your local grocery store about donating to a food bank or soup kitchen
- Hit the dumpsters. Store dumpsters are full of perfectly good food that is thrown away every day.
- Talk to a local farmer about opening the fields not being harvested to a gleaning project or to local residents to come and pick their own.
- Talk to your restaurants and caterers about donating unused food to a homeless shelter.
- Start a weekly food swap.
Please leave a comment below and let me know what ideas you have for saving food from the trash bin and feeding the hungry.
