by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read the original in Noozhawk by clicking here)
One summer during college, my son worked for Environment California in Sacramento. He lived in an apartment with several others, all of whom prided themselves on their refrigerator filled with food gleaned from dumpster diving.
We went to visit and expected to be grossed out by their kitchen. Instead we found fresh, if imperfect, vegetables and lots of unopened Odwalla from a nearby factory.
One of his house mates organized Saturday lunches in a nearby park frequented by homeless individuals. The housemates joined her each week to feed about 100 people.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations documents 2.9 trillion pounds of wasted food per year: enough to feed each of the world’s 800 million hungry people twice over.
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This isn’t new news, but rather an ongoing frustration. We’ve been told it’s a “distribution” problem that we can’t really do anything about as individuals.
That’s only half right. In developing nations, most waste is lost post-harvest due to lack of adequate storage facilities, good roads and refrigeration.
Developed nations, on the other hand, waste food further down the supply chain. Retailers including groceries and restaurants may order, serve or display too much.
Consumers toss perishable edibles before they’re expired and lose leftovers and other food in the back of the fridge.
There are things we can do, and good reasons to do them. One is to take advantage of recent campaigns by U.S. and European grocers to sell “ugly” produce at a discount.
“Supermarkets’ cosmetic standards are crazily exacting,” writes Elizabeth Royte in National Geographic’s March issue. Grocery managers may reject food unfairly to cover inaccurate forecasts or unexpected drops in sales. The grower has to eat the cost.
Tristram Stuart, a food waste campaigner from England, would prefer a systemic fix of relaxing the standards. Past its sell date, “expired” food may not be at its peak, but things like staleness and color change aren’t safety concerns.
The “sell by” date is the last day the item is at its highest level of quality, but it will still be edible for some time after, according to Consumer Reports and WebMD.
In 2009 Stuart started Feeding the 5000, a free public feast made entirely of “orphaned food.”
Built on Jesus’ instruction (John 6:12) to “gather the pieces that are left over,” the event has now been held in over 30 cities worldwide. After scores volunteer to help create it and thousands partake, Stuart speaks and changes happen.
Others in this space include Jordan Figueiredo, founder of endfoodwaste.org, and Culinary nutritionist Stefanie Sacks (author of What the Fork are you Eating?).
Together they started a Change.org petition encouraging Whole Foods to sell ugly produce. The petition succeeded, and they’re currently working on WalMart.
In her Nat Geo article, Royte observes, “Across cultures, food waste goes against the moral grain,” but there is a countervailing attitude that values being wealthy enough to abandon food.
Changing this deep-seated perception that our wealth entitles us to waste may be the hardest part. It’s an attitude that would be better expressed in generosity before a purchase than tossing edible food afterwards.
I’m working on not searching the produce bins for the ideal-looking veggie. I’m also content that taking home leftovers has lost its sting, at least in my circles.
Next step: bringing my own container for leftovers.
Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist
Karen Telleen-Lawton is an eco-writer, sharing information and insights about economics and ecology, finances and the environment. Having recently retired from financial planning and advising, she spends more time exploring the outdoors — and reading and writing about it. The opinions expressed are her own.