Food Waste in a Rich Place

Food Waste and Why it is Important to Monitor

                 

            Food waste is a hidden problem that America and quite frankly the whole world faces everyday. While food waste is not something you hear about often it brings up many issues of when you think of its correlating problem, starvation and hunger around the world.

            This problem stuck out to me because many times I find myself throwing out old food or making plates that I can never finish. Also, there has been times where I have been hungry, even on a regular day and I can't imagine how life would be with a constant question of when my next meal was coming. Everyday there are people who also waste food without a second thought but there are also people who starve everyday and wish that they had that very food that is just thrown away and forgotten about. 

            Living in Los Angeles county for the last couple of years, I have seen more homeless people then I've seen in my lifetime. Many of these people are in a position where they have no other option than to beg for money and food.

THE FACTS

                Food waste occurs everyday and throughout the day statistics show that only 40% of food in the United State is even consumed, this means that almost HALF of all food is ever used to feed our population. Out of the billion of the world's hungry people, a quarter of the food wasted by the U.S, U.K. and Canada could feed every single one of them but this is food that will never reach them. About 25% of the world's fresh water is used to grow food that is never eaten. Studies also show that in developed countries such as this one, almost half of all food waste takes place in the home. This is where our actions can come into play.

What Can We Do To Help

                Food waste is a problem that we start fixing from our homes first, many times when the average consumers goes grocery shopping they end up spending more than what they can consume before the food goes bad. How many times have you gone in your refrigerator to find that you half old and molding food that you simply just forgot about? If your are like many of the U.S. population, you have done this before. Planning ahead before shopping can help to solve this problem of soiled food. Also, properly storing the food you do buy can help to further preserve it. 

               There are also websites such as imperfectproduce.com that allows you to buy food that may have minor deformities for a cheaper price. This website gives you access to produce that would usually have been thrown away because of the appearance. Another website that offers the same kinds of produce is Hungryharvest.com.

Angelina Harper is a resident of the Downtown Los Angeles area when asked her opinion on food waste and its effect on the community. Her response was "It is amazing to see that we live in a place where there are some of the richest people but also the most less fortunate people. Many times I see homeless people with signs with their only request being food, its sad to see people going through the trash to eat the wasted food. Its definitely a problem that needs to be highlighted."

When asked the same question "" said "I hadn't really given much thought to food waste but when you really think about it, we waste a lot of food that could be feeding the hungry." 

Overall, food waste is no a problem that should annoyed many people are affected by the lack of food that others tend to just throw away to easily. Learning to be more efficient when shopping and limiting your food waste can be beneficial to the earth, others, and can even help you to save money.

References:
“10 Food Waste Facts You Need to Know.” OLIO, olioex.com/food-waste/food-waste-facts/.
“Food Waste.” NRDC, 8 Feb. 2019, www.nrdc.org/issues/food-waste.