A federal government push to cut in half the nation's food waste is adding pressure to a myriad of approaches to tackle this burgeoning problem. Almost half of food produced in the U.S. is destined for landfills. (Aug. 11) AP
Americans throw away billions of pounds of food each year, worth billions of dollars and enough to feed millions of people.
In fact, if we were able to recover all of our wasted food, we could provide a 2,000-calorie diet to 84% of the population, said Dr. Roni Neff, a Johns Hopkins University researcher who led a first-ever study examining the nutrients we're tossing in the trash.
It's an ugly part of American culture, our throw away culture, and it's costing us time, money and our environment. Add the fact our waste often is filled with important nutrients many people lack in their diets, such as dietary fiber, Vitamin D and calcium, and the problem is compounded.
"Wasted food is a very serious issue at this point," said Neff, a program director at the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future. "We're throwing away so much money and so many resources and so much potential nutrients that can make our lives better."
The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics, bases its data on 2012 U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. The numbers are eye-popping: 31% to 40% of our food is thrown away after it's harvested. For each person that's more than 1,200 calories per person per day.
Included in that food are vital nutrients many Americans aren't getting daily. For instance, the average American man and woman does not get enough dietary fiber, yet we toss enough of it for 74 million women or 48 million men. The same goes for potassium, which the average American lacks. We toss enough for 59 million Americans.
The trend continues for magnesium and Vitamins A and D.
It places America in a sad juxtaposition: We're hemorrhaging our food supply as communities suffer without enough to get through the day or access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Feeding America, a hunger-relief organization, said in 2015 about 42 million Americans lived in food insecure households, which are homes with a lack of access or availability to enough food to lead a healthy life.
So why do we throw so much away? And is it a solution to our food scarcity problems?
As Neff explains, people are tossing food out with good intentions. However, their belief foods are unsafe because they don't appear as fresh sometimes isn't grounded in reality. A 2013 report found by Harvard University and the National Resources Defense Council found Americans throw away billions of food simply because they're confused about food expiration date labels.
The federal government has established a national goal to cut food waste by 50% by 2030.
Neff recommends people learn more about when foods become unsafe. Many times, just because something isn't as fresh as it once was, doesn't mean it's gone bad.
Among the most wasted foods, Neff said, were seafood, fruits and vegetables.
"The foods that are particularly wasted are fresh foods that tend to be more perishable," she said. "That's a lot of money that people are using to feed their family that's going straight to the landfill."
So how do we prevent this?
"One of the biggest things is just really being aware of it," said Neff, who completed the study with John Hopkins fellow and doctoral candidate Marie L. Spiker.
That involves creating and sticking to a shopping list and being proactive about eating leftovers. She also wishes for retailers to bring more "imperfect" food to the market, those fruits and veggies that don't look great, but are still fine to eat.
While using leftover food to help feed the hungry is noble, Neff suggests it's not the antidote to food scarcity.
"Although only a portion of discarded food can realistically be made available for human consumption," said Neff, efforts to redistribute surplus foods where appropriate and prevent food waste in the first place could increase the availability of nutrients for Americans, while saving money and natural resources."
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