Incalculable

Why is America the top country in the world to waste food?

Americans throw away almost half of their food in search of perfection, increasing hunger, and poverty. A major quantity of freshly produced fruits and vegetables are left in the fields to rot, or fed to livestock because of unrealistic flawless standards of Americans.

Why do Americans waste an incalculable amount of food? 

According to some research Americans waste food because they can. Americans are conditioned to buy the freshest and most notorious food.  With the good intention to feed our families the best food, we randomly fill our carts with fresh fruits and vegetables. After a few days of life, this fresh food gets moldy and we throw it away in the trash bin. While purchasing randomly, we often forget this ample food will not remain fresh and result in food waste.

According to Guardians “It’s all about blemish-free produce,” says Jay Johnson, who ships fresh fruit and vegetables from North Carolina and central Florida. “What happens in our business today is that it is either perfect, or it gets rejected. It is perfect for them, or they turn it down. And then you are stuck.”

Most of the food is wasted while trimming off edible portions on consumers’ demand. Out of which 33% of food waste is used to feed animals but still almost 2 billion of food is wasted at the manufacturing level.  During Covid-19 lockdown restrictions many meat processing factories closed. Due to which animals were slaughtered and thrown away by thousands. Covid-19 has also forced dairy farmers to dump tons of milk so, the milk market doesn’t implode. Instead of discarding meat and tons of milk, this can be distributed among people to reduce hunger and food waste

According to an estimate in US restaurants, almost 30 billion pounds of food is wasted each year. Other institutes like schools, hospitals waste around 10 billion pounds of food each year. The main causes of food waste in such institutes include oversized portions, inefficient storage systems, and ample menu choices.

Us households are responsible for the largest food waste portions. About two-thirds of food waste occurs in homes due to food spoilage which means inefficient storage system, over purchasing, lack of visibility in refrigerators. The remaining third of the food waste that occurs is the result of over-preparing which means cooking more than needed. 

The solution to reducing food waste is not to eat moldy or expired food, but to organize your food management habits. Here we are sharing some ways to reduce food waste. 

• Give uneaten leftovers to restaurant employees. Since charities have strict guidelines about food charity, you can provide uneaten food to employees or ask them to take home for their families. 
• Keep in mind that fresh fruits and vegetables have a shorter time span than ones with preservatives. Use those fresh edible products first to avoid food waste.
• Restaurants should have a proper backup storage system to keep food fresh. To avoid food waste use Bluetooth temperature sensors in your storage area to alert you in any condition 
• To avoid food waste households and restaurant staff should have stock inventory. 
• According to research, 45% of food gets wasted due to poor preparation. This is why it’s essential for restaurant staff to learn how to cook food properly, store food correctly, and use leftovers.
• Plan your meals in advance. Create a list of shopping items before you hit the grocery store to avoid random purchases.
• Schedule your dine-outs in advance, considering the food available in your fridge. Instead of over-ordering in restaurants, the order in 2,3 turns.
• Learn the meaning of best-before and Use-by labeling. 
• Be creative with leftover food. Add cooked beans and peas to soups and stews to bulk up. Whizz leftover bread into bread crumbs and freeze. Use for pie toppings.
• Embrace imperfect foo. Ugly looking fruits and veggies still taste the same and are typically a fraction of the cost.

With these useful tips we can contribute to reducing food waste to remove hunger and save our planet. Join us in our movement #dreamcitynowaste and help us spread the words together we can make the change. 

‘’We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people doing it imperfectly”