New research suggests that Americans throw away around 50 percent of all its food produce every single year. From potatoes to carrots, to strawberries to grapes, so much food is just tossed aside like trash and often left to rot just because of the way it looks. Many supermarket giants have the power to push the products away that farmers bring to them simply because of one little blemish, or it may not be the exact size they were hoping and are doing so because they feel this is the standard that people want and expect. But, is that the case?
Food waste is a serious issue in the U.S. and costs the food industry a considerable amount of money regarding disposal of the waste and the lost energy and time that has been spent in trying to produce it in the first place. From farmers to supermarkets, to packaging companies, they all have their quality control systems, and each step along the way a little more of that original load of produce is lost, until finally we are left with around two-thirds of what there was to start with and much of this is unnecessary.
Some fruits and vegetables that do not make the grade currently end up just left to rot as not worth doing anything with. Others are fed to livestock as not deemed as acceptable for the human market. And others are simply taken to a landfill where more money is spent in destroying the ‘slightly tainted’ goods. The Obama administration has vowed to halve food waste by 2030 and recognizes that if we are to be able to step forward and help end world hunger then first, we need to reduce the amount of food that is being wasted.
Should we be tossing good, healthy produce aside just because it may not look like the ‘perfect’ produce should? Are there no other good things we can do with this potentially wasted food? The answer is yes. New start-up companies have been popping up all over the country that also agree that we discard too much good food when there are so many other uses for it. One company that has been created to try and combat this issue is California-based business, Imperfect Produce. Their aim is to reduce the amount of food waste in the U.S. by offering a delivery service of fresh fruit and vegetables straight to your door at an affordable price. They are much cheaper than other produce delivery services as their ‘ugly fruit’ is purchased at a discount direct from farms that are passed on to the consumers.
Another new start-up company, Food Cowboys also had an ingenious way to solve some of the issues us as Americans face in throwing so much food away. Their plan involved rescuing produce that was being rejected by supermarkets and re-directing them to somewhere they could be used, such as food banks or other charities.
These are both fantastic examples of what can be done to try and stop all the unnecessary food waste of America today. Does it matter that our pear is a little oddly shaped if it still tastes the same when we eat it? Or that our potato is shaped like a heart if we are only going to chop it up anyway? By reducing the amount of food waste produced each year, we are saving the environment, our economy, and could potentially allow us to go on to tackle world hunger.
Story Via; The Guardian
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