posted May 20, 2008 05:22 AM              

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Grocery bills are rising through the roof. Food banks are running short of donations. And food shortages are causing sporadic riots in poor countries through the world.

You'd never know it if you saw what was ending up in landfill in the United States. As it turns out, Americans waste an astounding amount of food — an estimated 27% of the food available for consumption, according to a government study — and it happens at the supermarket, in restaurants and cafeterias and in the kitchen. It works out to about a pound (almost half a kg) of food every day for every American.

Grocery stores discard products because of spoilage or minor cosmetic blemishes. Restaurants throw away what they don't use. And consumers toss out everything from bananas that have turned brown to last week's Chinese leftovers. In 1997, in one of the few studies of food waste, the department of agriculture estimated that two years before, 96.4 billion pounds (44 billion kg) of the 356 billion pounds (161 billion kg) of edible food in the United States was never eaten. Fresh produce, milk, grain products and sweeteners made up two-thirds of the waste. An update is under way.

The study didn't account for the explosion of ready-to-eat foods now available at supermarkets, from rotisserie chickens to sandwiches and soups. What do you think happens to that potato salad and meatloaf at the end of the day?

A more recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that Americans generate roughly 30 million tons of food waste each year, which is about 12% of the total waste stream. All but about 2% of that food waste ends up in landfills; by comparison, 62% of yard waste is composted.

The numbers seem all the more staggering now, given the cost of groceries and the emerging food crisis around the world.

After President George Bush said recently that India's burgeoning middle class was helping to push up food prices by demanding better food, officials in India complained that not only do Americans eat too much — if they slimmed down to the weight of middle-class Indians, said one, "many people in sub-Saharan Africa would find food on their plate" — but they also throw out too much food.

And consider this: the rotting food that ends up in landfills produces methane, a major source of greenhouse gases.
America's Second Harvest — The Nation's Food Bank Network, a group of more than 200 food banks, reports that donations of food are down 9%, but the number of people showing up for food has increased 20%. The problem isn't unique to the United States.

In England, a recent study revealed that Britons toss away a third of the food they purchase, including more than four million whole apples, 1.2 million sausages and 2.8 million tomatoes. In Sweden, families with small children threw out about a quarter of the food they bought, a recent study there found.

And most distressing, perhaps, is that in some parts of Africa a quarter or more of the crops go bad before they can be eaten. A study presented last week to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development found that the high losses in developing nations "are mainly due to a lack of technology and infrastructure" as well as insect infestations, microbial growth, damage and humidity. For decades, wasting food has fallen into the category of things that everyone knows is a bad idea but that few do anything about, sort of like speeding and reapplying sunscreen. Didn't your mother tell you to eat all the food on your plate?

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posted May 20, 2008 06:46 AM            

"Grocery stores discard products because of spoilage or minor cosmetic blemishes. Restaurants throw away what they don't use. And consumers toss out everything from bananas that have turned brown to last week's Chinese leftovers. In 1997, in one of the few studies of food waste, the department of agriculture estimated that two years before, 96.4 billion pounds (44 billion kg) of the 356 billion pounds (161 billion kg) of edible food in the United States was never eaten. Fresh produce, milk, grain products and sweeteners made up two-thirds of the waste."

Restaurants are required by law to throw out food (produce, meat and other items) that have hit the expiration date or have been out (such as a salad bar) for too long. Same goes with Buffets. Too many people can get sick due to the bacterial potential. Same with food sitting in our refrigerator.

The simple answer, and what we practice here at home, is to buy what we will eat. Sure sometimes lettuce goes bad or an apple is forgotten in the back, but that happens. We don't buy what we don't think we will use for meals for the week and we recycle almost every package food comes in (the German's have an excellent system for this).

People get greedy and buy more fast food than they can eat or order huge plates of Italian / Chinese food but won't eat the left overs. To me, that is really sad.

I do hate when I make us dinner (for example last night we had fresh salad with chicken) and we can't eat it all (half mine went into the trash because I can't eat wilted salad). The next time I will make a much smaller salad.

posted May 20, 2008 09:47 AM              

Oh the glories of composting! The sweet smell of black gold! Worms! *sigh* happiness ...

posted May 20, 2008 11:12 AM            

When I was india - I was surprised to see a big queue in the behind of supermarkets. Lots of poor people would assemble to get their share of food.

I am hoping they are not expired food LOL

posted May 20, 2008 11:53 AM            

We did alot of composting in the states but regulations are different here. We have to worry about the German and US government (since we are in US housing but living on the economy). I love composting.

posted May 21, 2008 10:23 PM              

Although not a plastic bag washer myself, I am a proud new recruit in The Plastic Wars. All plastic children's toys, food storage containers, etc have recently been given their eviction notice.

posted May 22, 2008 05:53 AM              

well couldnt be happier
is everyone here though a fan of GE crops ??

posted May 23, 2008 05:24 PM            

I don't have to contend with short growing seasons, or drought conditions but in some areas of the world they do have those problems. When there's drought, people starve to death. When a new blight or wilt comes along all their crop is destroyed. Just as almost all the US Chestnut trees were killed off by a blight.

Most people don't know but most of the produce and fruit you eat is produced from hybrid seed or grown on grafted root stocks. It's all a form of genetic engineering and it's been going on for most of America's history. Most of the citrus crop(s) are grown on grafted root stock, usually a cold hardy root stock grafted with a desirable variety of oranges, grapefruit, tangerine or other citrus. You wouldn't want to eat the fruit produced from the root stock itself...mostly a bitter orange variety.

What do you think the VFNT means on tomato seed packets? You won't find those designations on heirloom tomato seeds. Yet, most of the tomatoes you buy are produced from hybrid seed because of color, size, taste, resistance to disease and shipping qualities.

posted May 23, 2008 07:06 PM            

Now TINK, you know I always direct questions at specific people if it's their specific answer or comment I'm requesting.

We've had several GE threads on this forum over the years. For the most part it consisted of copied and pasted reams of comments from activists and activist sites and it's all speculative and not based on scientific fact.

I can't think of a reason to not bypass the hybridization process which is lengthy and time consuming and go straight to a desired end product.

I'd rather hear the opinions of those here who are against or for genetic engineering than opinions from organizations.

This time, I am asking you for your opinion...TINK.

I don't claim to be the last word on the subject so you might make a convert out of me and we can go picket Monsanto. I'll dress up like a giant corn seed and you can stencil NO GE on my forehead.