Facts About Food Waste in America

From a short piece about food waste from The Des Moines Register: 1,000 adults were surveyed, and 63 percent of them said they were concerned about our country's food waste. In fact, it was a bigger issue to many of them than GMOs or climate change.

Here’s the really interesting part: only 34 percent of those surveyed thought the food they wasted in their own homes was a concern. Almost half of the people who see food waste as a problem, don’t see it as their personal problem.

Perhaps they don’t know that according to a recent USDA report, twice as much food is wasted on the consumer level than it is on the retail level. In other words, if you think grocery stores throw out more food than people do in their homes, you’re wrong. Perhaps they also don’t know that Americans throw away 40 percent of the food they bring into their homes. Almost half of what they buy gets trashed.

Hikingware.com wants you to be aware of this disturbing trend, because during an emergency or disaster there may be very little, if any, food available for you and your family -- unless you act wisely and have a food storage plan.

And a good food storage plan also includes provident living BEFORE the emergency and/or disaster.

How is your personal food waste, the food you bring into your home but never eat, a problem? Here’s how:

• You’re contributing to the waste of energy. A study by the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin found that 2 percent of the annual energy consumption in the U.S. was used on food that went to waste. How does food use energy? Think of the all the energy it takes to produce, transport, process and handle food, and you’ll start to see that every step of the way, energy is used for food. That 2 percent is probably a conservative number because the study used 1995 data that said Americans threw away 27 percent of the food produced. It’s now estimated that food waste could be as much as 50 percent.
• You’re contributing to carbon emissions. The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization released a report that found “the carbon footprint of wasted food is equivalent to 3.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually.” China and the USA are the top two carbon emitters in the world. Food waste is the third. It’s like food waste is an entire country in and of itself when it comes to carbon emissions, and so much of that food waste comes from what we throw away in our own homes.
• You’re contributing to hunger. Pope Francis commented that our culture of food waste is like stealing from the poor. As long as we don't see our food waste as a big deal, we won't think of how tackling food waste can help the hungry. If everyone from the farmers who grow the food to the governments who subsidize the food to the markets that sell the food to the consumers who buy the food worked together to stop the waste and divert the perfectly edible food into the hands and mouths of the hungry, real change could happen.
• You’re wasting your cold, hard-earned cash. The average family of four throws away $2,275 worth of food each year. If you don’t see any of the other issues surrounding personal food waste as a problem, it’s hard to argue that wasting this much money isn’t a personal issue!

What can you do about your personal food waste?

Believe it or not, your food storage can help. For example, in my family, I am the only one that likes red and green peppers. So I only re-hydrate the servings I need, rather than buy fresh and potentially waste part of the fresh vegetables, and just to add them to my dinner when I want them. Same with things like broccoli. I use what I need and the rest stays in the pantry for future use.