Food Waste: A Wider View
Welcome to another edition of the Food Waste blog. Most months, we’ll look at ways to use those foods and scraps that might otherwise go into the trash. We’ll also look at other products and processes that can help us cut back on how much we’re adding to our landfills. So far, we’ve looked inside our own kitchen cupboards.
This month, however, let’s expand our scope and consider how food waste is not just a problem of the home but a global crisis.
When trying to reduce our food waste, we’re often focused on the way we handle excess food and the bits that are inedible (such as bones and peelings). What we think less of is how these actions contribute to a much bigger effort to manage wasted food.
Food loss vs. Food waste
To start, it's helpful to look at how food waste is defined as there’s a difference between food that is “lost” and that which is considered to be wasted. This also gives us a glimpse into the larger food production cycle.
Food loss is how agencies classify products that are found to be unfit for consumption. Farm produce that is spoiled or the bugs get to first would be categorized this way. Food that is damaged or infected in processing is also considered lost. Food loss, in other words, occurs in the first part of the food production cycle - everything that occurs before food arrives at distribution centers, grocery stores, restaurants, and your home.
Once the food arrives at the store, we begin to think in terms of food waste. This includes those products that are fit for consumption but are tossed for a variety of reasons. Food spoilage is common at grocery stores, especially organic foods that don’t utilize unnatural preservatives. At restaurants, food is also spoiled but to less of a degree if the restaurant is well managed. A lot of food is wasted by diners, however, who may not finish a meal and return plates with half-eaten meals rather than take leftovers home.
Of course, the big contributor to food waste is…us! In our homes, food is wasted more than at any other point in the production cycle.
A National Issue
A National Issue. When it comes to wasting food, America is #1. It’s good to know, however, that the U.S. is working hard to correct this. At the National level, the Environmental Protenction Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) are three of the more prominent groups working to curb food loss and waste. Why does the U.S. dedicate so many resources to curbing food waste? According to national studies, we waste an estimated 30-40% of our food every year - 133 billion pounds of food - far more than any other nation on the planet. A 2018 report published by ReFed, estimated that we spend $218 billion processing wasted food!
What We’re Doing About It. Thanks to the effort of these and other agencies, food waste has been recognized as a significant crisis that must be addressed. The Food Waste Index, for example, provides a number of recommendations including better storage methods and using more advanced monitoring technologies.
The US government is taking a significant step to eliminating food loss and waste: a joint agreement between the USDA, FDA, and EPA established a goal of cutting food waste and loss in half by 2030. As part of this effort, these agencies have been working with organizations like the Food Waste Reducation Alliance (FWRA) which represents restaurants, grocers, and other consumer-side food industries. Two of the FWRA’s priorities is to make food production more efficient, promote food donations, and improve composting and other methods that keep food waste out of landfills.
A Global Issue
While the United States is working to be batter about food waste, this is also an international problem - one that is being fought by numerous organizations. The biggest among these include the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations (UN), and the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The UN’s “Food Waste Index,” published last year, highlighted a number of factors that help understand why this is an international issue:
We waste a lot of food. Nearly one billion tons of food waste is produced every year. Most of this waste occurs at the consumer level: over 60% within the household, 26% from food service, and 13% occurs at the retail level.
Food waste is everyone’s problem. No matter how much money we make or where we live, we all waste food
The problem has been underestimated. Based on current data, it’s now believed that the issue is twice as bad as previously thought!
What Can I Do About It? The risk of looking at food waste as a global issue is that the problem becomes overwhelming. As we focus on in this blog, change starts at home! In addition to making small changes (such as composting) to our habits, we can also be more mindful about where our food comes from! What does your favorite grocery store do with their wasted food? What about your workplace?
Next month: Understanding sell-by dates!
P.S: A huge thanks goes out to all those individuals and organizations who make gardening happen here in Green Bay! The Garden Blitz was an amazing event and the Community Gardens are up and running all around town! Very cool to see.
