-Research-
What is food waste? The general consensus is that food waste is food that was meant for and considered safe for human consumption but is ultimately thrown away. This could be food that is uneaten at restaurants, food that has reached an expiration/"best by" date, food not meeting a quality standard for retail, manufacturing errors, or crops not completely harvested and sold. There is multiple different definitions as to what is food waste or loss is, the common thing tying these together being at the end of the day, food is thrown out. Pictured below is a table with various organization's definitions as to what food waste is.
Source: Definitions of Food Loss and Waste, Understanding Food Loss and Waste -- Why Are We Losing and Wasting Food? Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Waste and Resource Management
The next thing to ponder is how much food is being wasted or thrown away? According to the US Department of Agriculture, "food waste is estimated to be between 30-40 percent of the food supply", and based on the estimates from the USDA "31 percent [of] food loss [from] the retail and consumer levels [...] this is added up to approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010". A decade later, and it seems that things have not gone down, it seems we are still wasting food on a larger scale. Most people are not aware of food waste nor the consequences of it as households are the biggest provider of food waste along with retailers.
Not to mention food waste is a significant waste of resources, especially for agriculture as food lost still had to be grown on land, harvested, packaged, transported, etc. only to be thrown out. There has been the quiet whispers of a food shortage on the horizon, that there are so many who are starving and need food. This begs the question, if there's an excess of food waste, then why is there a food shortage crisis in the first place? There is a lack of awareness and very little discussion on the subject of food waste, perhaps with more awareness something can be changed for the better soon.
-Personal-
I find that food waste is something that does affect everyone on a personal level. After all most of food waste comes from households tossing food as well as retailers disposing of uneaten or expired food. We as people also contribute to this problem and I have been guilty of it in the past. However, working in the service industry has made me realize that there is a huge issue with disposing still viable food at the end of the weekend. There is massive quantities of food and drinks that are produced with the hopes that it will be consumed by customers within the end of the week. Once Sunday has been reached we are told to throw away all the food and drinks that weren't consumed if they were prepared by me or my coworkers. Canned goods wait until the expiration date is reached before they are tossed. Regardless, seeing the quantity of food waste being disposed of makes me wish that there was something that could be done instead of it all being thrown out. Nowadays, I don't enjoy seeing food be thrown out and if I can take excess work food home I absolutely do. However, the chance to do so isn't always available nor does every establishment allow for food to be taken home. Ultimately after seeing it and tossing out viable food myself, I am left wondering what can I do? Could there be changes to how food waste is handled?
-Community Interaction-
I decided to speak with various individuals on Cal State LA's campus and asked them if they knew what food waste was, what their thoughts on the subject is, and if they could do something about it, what would they do? Some having worked in the service industry did, some did not, but regardless these were some of their responses:
"Food waste is only exists because there is a vested interest (the profit motive) for keeping the supply of food and availability of it as minimal as possible. If the country were more interested in providing for its citizens and ensuring an adequate quality of life with appropriate access to food, it would enact legislation to limit food waste or penalize companies for disposing of food. Ultimately there is an extreme excess of food that is thrown away per day, that is still usable, and the only true excuse that lawmakers and the public alike even tolerate is that it's challenging to distribute." -Chase Hooper
"Food waste is something that is overall pretty upsetting to me. I always hear about fast food places and restaurants throwing away all of their food at the end of the day and refuse to give it to those in need because of “not making profit” off of it. I used to work at a fast food chain and my former boss terminated people for giving away food that was already going to be thrown away. I hope that one day something can be implicated to donate all this food to different food banks and/or shelters instead of wasting tons of it everyday." -Hannah Lumapas-Noragong
"It makes me feel sad, there needs to be a mechanism in place for food to be transported from restaurant or grocery store to where other people can acquire. Whether that is a food bank or other institution." -Susan Cohen
-What Can Be Done?-
We, as a people can make efforts to reduce the amount of food waste we produce and be mindful about how much food we dispose of. It is also good to know that there are various organizations that are striving to make a change regarding food waste. Feeding America is an example of an organization that is striving to recuse food from dumpsters and prepare it for those who are facing hunger. They work with retailers, farmers, and manufactures with handling food loss and preparing it as quickly as possible. They also strive to donate viable food to food banks to try and help feed as many people as possible. This is the largest organization to do something, but that does not mean there aren't others out there trying to make a difference. World Food Program USA is another that is not only trying to solve hunger in the USA, but also globally, working with farmers, schools, and communities to provide food, educate about reducing food waste, and provide relief when disaster strikes.
Ultimately, raising awareness, supporting organizations that fight to reduce food waste, and reducing our own personal waste are the best ways to take action. Perhaps in the future with enough awareness, we as a community can reduce both world hunger and food waste.
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