Problems and Solutions for Food Waste in the United States

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Problems and Solutions for Food Waste in the United States

We don’t have a food supply issue, we have a food distribution issue.

How much food is actually wasted?

You may be thinking, “big deal, a little food gets wasted, we are all getting fed.” Would you feel that way if I told you it is estimated that 92-133 billion pounds of food are wasted each year in the United States? According to Feeding America, that is up to 40% of our potential food supply, totally $473 billion annually. Yet, there are close to 50 million people in our country who are facing food insecurity and malnutrition. How is this something we face in modern society? Food waste is a major factor in this problem.

Food waste happens for a variety of reasons, some of which happen as a result of normal manufacturing processes. Unfortunately, that is not the case for the majority of the food that is wasted in the United States.

Where is the food waste coming from?

Food and Agriculture Industry

A whopping 51.7% of all food waste comes directly from the food and agriculture industry. I would like to be able to say that it is from spoiled, contaminated, or damaged food, but that is just not the case. Most of it is from misshapen produce, food that is too close to its expiration date (but still completely safe), overproduction, or damage/spoilage from negligence in transport or storage. Most of this food could safely still be consumed by people, pets or livestock, and in the worst case, be used for compost or organic material for soil. Instead, much of it ends up in landfills, immediately rendering it contaminated.

Now, I can say from experience that producers will try to find outlets for either food donations or low-cost animal feed. Due to concerns about attracting pests, they will run into roadblocks from food safety regulations and food quality audits. While these are valid concerns, more industry support or grassroots efforts could massively reduce the amount of unused waste. I will cover more of those options further down.

Retail and Grocery Stores

Retail food waste accounts for 5 million tons annually. This is the one that frustrates me the most because a large portion of the waste that happens here is just about expiration dates. Or even worse, marketing. These two contributors play on each other in a way that admittedly must be a hard line to walk from an employee perspective. But from the outside looking in, it is very frustrating, and I found it exasperating when I worked in the food industry.

The first issue is “best by” dates. The reason this is an issue in many cases is because there is a difference between expiration dates, best-by dates, and guaranteed freshness dates. Expiration dates need to be observed the closest because they are often associated with time and temperature-sensitive products that can cause illness if consumed after the stated date. This includes milk, dairy products, fresh meat, some produce, and things like salads with mayonnaise-based dressings. A best-by date refers to the date that a product may no longer be at its peak freshness. Products that fall under this category are often dried, canned, or jarred products. These items will have a shelf life that exceeds a year or more. The kicker is that unless the packaging has been adulterated in some way, these products are probably safe long past the best-by date. You are going to love this next one the most! Products that have a guaranteed freshness date, like sealed baked goods, are simply the date that the company will still honor a refund should you find the product unsatisfactory. In all honesty, because of preservatives, those products will probably last longer than we will. Any products that are beyond those dates will not be sold in retail outlets.

The second issue is marketing. I remember back when I still worked in the food industry; I overheard a conversation that really stuck with me. A little background on this is that manufacturing companies are going to produce more than what they have contracted to meet larger orders and be able to fill small or retail orders. Sometimes they overshoot, and sometimes they don’t make enough. In either case, they are losing money. When they produce too much, there are options for marketing to new outlets, and if that doesn’t happen, when they start to reach one of the previously mentioned sale dates, they will sell the product to discount stores. This way, they are still making money, and the product doesn’t have to be disposed of (at least by the manufacturer). The company I worked for has a “top-selling” base product and several other products made from the base product. At one point, they had an abundance of their base product, and the bigwigs were discussing how to offload it. The owner very bluntly said I would throw it all away before I put our top-selling product in the said discount grocery store. Her reasoning for this is that she didn’t want to give off the impression that we weren’t in high demand. I found this a little strange because my perception of discount stores was overstock, not “in poor demand.”

The moral of the story is that for marketing purposes, a company would rather throw out perfectly good food than blemish its reputation. If every company is doing this across the country is doing this, the waste is highly unnecessary! Then, at the next level in the supply chain are warehouses. Large retailers will often have their own warehouses where they can buy in bulk and then distribute as needed and across several local stores. If the local stores do not sell enough of a product in time and those dates get close, the warehouses are faced with the same dilemma as the manufacturers: sell to discount stores or dispose. Warehouses don’t care about the integrity of certain products being sold in discount outlets (unless they signed contracts disallowing this). They also see disposal as a “cost of doing business” and will simply throw it out. At the retail level, it’s the same story generally. However, retailers will discount products within their own stores or donate to local food banks (manufacturers and warehouses will donate too, but usually only if it’s cost-effective to deliver). Then there are some of the issues associated with food banks, again, something more to cover when I discuss some solutions.

Restaurants

I think it’s easy to see why restaurants waste 13 million tons of food each year. How many times do you not finish your meal? Sometimes the food is not good, sometimes they serve you too much, sometimes you get a phone call in the middle of your meal, and you have to abandon it. In the kitchen, there is waste from over-prepping, insufficient orders, or food sent back. Regardless of the reason, the waste is happening. And, from a food safety perspective, it is very hard to repurpose the food… but not impossible.

Waste in the home

In my quick research, I couldn’t find the annual national numbers. I did find that the average American household wastes about 6 cups of food per week. I have to say, though, at least our family is above average on something! Seriously though, we are probably better about what truly gets wasted than the average family because we have so many outlets for uneaten food. However, in most households, the reason for food waste falls back on our old friend, food dates. Whether it be a lack of education or losing the food at the back of the refrigerator, Americans are known for being overly comfortable with their food availability. This leads to a huge amount of waste!

Ideas for saving our food

I wish there were a one-size-fits-all answer. Unfortunately, there is not. In fact, many of the things consumers would view as such a simple fix could actually be breaking laws or contractual agreements. Making this topic one that must be addressed from many different lenses. I won’t have all the answers here either, but I hope this can get your juices flowing for grassroots movements, how to reach out, and ideas to implement in your own home.

Ideas from the farmer’s perspective

Farmers probably have it the worst when it comes to regulations surrounding their ability to keep food out of landfills by selling or giving away products. Because of strict food safety and quality standards, the red tape is often too much to make it worth the farmer’s time or the risk of being shut down. There are also state and federal laws and association regulations limiting their ability to sell discount food so they are not undercutting other farmers or even the businesses that they sell their products to. Many of their products can be reused in their operations, though. Crops can be composted, used as green manure on fields, or even fed to some livestock. Even if their operation does not allow for those uses, they can often find another farmer who would be happy to take it off their hands for little to no cost. Luckily, this is not an across-the-board rule. Many farms are still small, independent, family farms that can make their own operational decisions. I love hopping on that bandwagon when possible! There is a farm local to us that sells its excess or misshapen russet potatoes for $5 per 50 lbs. You just have to bring your own sack or crates. We are literally taking away their trash and paying them for it! However, we get a full root cellar, and the pigs get a great snack of any damaged potatoes. However, farmers with premium products are more likely to not make those choices. Personally, I will happily eat older pork out of freezers than undersell ourselves.

Options for the manufacturers

So, I went over some of the monetary options that manufacturers have, like discount stores or even the write-offs available from donating to food banks. One option that I loved when working in manufacturing and as a hog farmer now, is that expired or non-uniform products can be donated or sold to livestock producers. There are also options for selling by-products, like nut hulls, as livestock feed. The biggest struggle for manufacturers is finding enough reliable farmers to consistently pick up discarded products before they attract pests. Once that becomes an issue, it falls under food safety and quality concerns, pushing manufacturers to opt for the landfill.

What should retailers and warehouses do?

For me, this one is a no-brainer. All food nearing or past the dates should be donated to food banks and other low-income facilities. And, most of them do this too. What needs to change though, is that instead of lost product being a tax write-off, it should be a tax incentive. There is so much funding written into the farm bill to fund programs like SNAP (food stamps) and WIC (Women Infants Children), why not write food waste into these programs? Did you know that some food banks can’t give you food if you also qualify for one of these other programs? Let me tell you, I was once a single mom in college, and those programs do not cover enough!

Do restaurants have options for reducing food waste?

Restaurant options are touchy. They are essentially the end of the line, like a home kitchen from a food safety and age of the food perspective. And they aren’t going to want to get rid of their shelf-stable foods unless they are contaminated. Where does this leave them? Well, they will need to do this from primarily out of the kindness of their hearts. There are some monetary benefits in that their waste removal fees will be less, or they might be able to trade with farmers of fresh products.

Where I believe the biggest change could happen?

Home economics. Yes, I said it. The thing is, it’s not just a class you could take in the fifties. Consumer education on how to use non-uniform foods, how to source locally, how to read food dates, and what to do with waste other than put it in the trash could drastically improve the statistics I discussed. This could be done whether you live rurally or in the city. Personally, I feed the biggest majority of food waste to our livestock. Then, use our livestock’s manure for compost. You can read more about what to do with individual foods in my free download. If you live in the city, there are still options for feeding products to dogs or composting. I recently came across a product called MILL that will chop and compost food scraps right in your kitchen to put into gardens or potted plants!

However, our children are where the biggest impact can be made is with our kids. Just like how our kids have been influenced to disrespect food, they can also be educated towards reducing food waste.