I was listening to All Things Considered on NPR, and there was a segment on food production and distribution. Half the food in the United States and in the United Kingdom is wasted--goes into garbage! The culprits were unrealistic "sell-by" dates, groceries promoting buy-one-get-one-free, and the insistence on perfect, unblemished fruits and vegetables. I am horrified! This is yet one more reason to grow your own if you can. When you have babied, watered, fussed over, and shooed insects away from a vegetable or fruit, it sure as heck isn't going into the garbage! When people in public housing are thrilled to grow a patio tomato, when folks at the local food pantry get excited about squash straight from the garden, wasting half of what is grown is just shameful. Excuse me, I'm going to go talk to the broccoli in the garden now.
We would probably be surprise at what most stores toss in the trash !! Even slightly over ripe vegetables make a great soup !! Few do give stuff to food banks or soup kitchens but I bet there are many markets that do not !!
Food banks might not accept over ripe fruit and veggies and some of the people getting food from the food banks just might consider it an insult that they are being given what they thought was "2nd rate" food.
Mart, you are correct. it goes to the trash. They want no part of a lawsuit due to "old" or over ripe food is my thinking.... not sure, but it is wasteful, they won't even give it to the food banks or kitchens. At out wally-world up here, there is never produce on the "mark down" rack....ummm, there is no marked down rack, not even brown bananas .
Kroger grocery stores have a markdown rack, with all sorts of veggies and fruit. They even include the really over ripe apples that I put out for the birds.
Our local market has a mark down bin for produce and a rack for other stuff. But, if it's past the sell by date they don't sell it. I buy the bananas sometimes to make banana bread. dooley
That's something that I just can't tolerate... wasting food. If you grow/buy/cook it... you'd better eat it (or at least feed it to the animals).
But the point is to cook it. Some might be insulted but could be those that are don`t need food. I think its time for a reality check for those people. They have a markdown rack here with vegetables and flowers. In the winter I buy from it. Hasn`t killed me yet.
Im responsible for doing throwaways at night for the bakery I work at, and I cant believe how much we throw away because they overstock the shelves (mostly with the crap people dont buy because its nasty...haha). We do donate some of it to Gleaners Food Bank, but only the Thaw and Sell items (the things we pull from the freezer that goes straight on the shelf with no baking involved) . The things we bake get tossed. All the food depts in our grocery (meat, deli, produce) do markdowns on items, but it seems only certain items make the cut.
For many places it's called C.Y.A. Cover Your A** If a grocery store sells over ripe veggies/fruits, someone gets sick, they sue the pants off the store and whether the food was the culprit or not doesn't matter. Many stores have been put out of business by people whose middle name is "Sue" Sell Buy dates (in the U.S.) are set in a round about way by the state of New Jersey. They have a mandatory two year limit on the 'shelf life' of foods (other than fresh foods) and in order for the companies to be able to sell in that state they have to put a Sell Buy date on their products too. If a store is caught knowingly selling food with an expired Sell Buy date they will be heavily fined by the city and/or county and/or state health departments. It's cheaper to throw the food away than to have the hassle of lawyers, fines and financial judgements handed down by the court. Common sense has left the building!!!
Our school gets a weekly drop offs of "out dated" milk, bread, and eggs. I'm not sure which store provides the groceries. Families, and staff take what they want. With 70% of our familes getting free or reduced breakfast and lunch (very low incomes) every little bit helps. It is all good stuff. There is certainly lots of need. I really like it that anyone can share in the plenty. Takes any stigma away from those kiddos and families that really need the food.
I agree! Our supermarket has a mark down shelf for fruits, veggies and baked goods. They also have a generous sized donation box that always has lots of canned goods for the food bank, and they encourage people to make donations. Having said that, it seems to me that it's not just FOOD that is getting wasted these days ... we have turned into a very wasteful society. The art of using something over and over until it no longer has another use is lost to most people. I wish I had a penny for the number of times I have heard people say 'throw it out and buy a new one'.
I would`nt have a problem with that at all, Jewell. In my opinion, there is a huge difference in those that are truly in need,,and those that just aren`t getting what they want to eat. What really ticks me off are those that are just too darn lazy to cook and those are usually the ones that complain or sue. Like last year when we had so much left in our garden, green beans, peas,okra ect. I told everyone that I could think of that might need it to help themselves. Just come pick it. I had one lady that came and picked about an hour, then decided that there may be a snake wandering through so she left and never came back. I have never seen a snake in my garden. What does this tell you about people? But if I had picked it and took it to them, there would have been no problem with taking it. I will pick and deliver to the older people and those that may work a schedule that makes it hard for them to come here. But for those that are too lazy to come pick it,,? They are not hungry. So don`t give me hard luck stories people. I work the soil, buy and plant the seed, work the garden, buy and apply fertilizer, and take care of watering,, what else do they want ?
Netty, you hit the nail on the head! We are teased (okay, made fun of)because our TV is over 30 years old. It works, and we don't want a huge one. I have sweaters that are old enough to go to high school. I like old stuff, and so does my husband which is fortunate for me, being "old stuff" myself. Rueters ran a story today about the amount of food that doesn't reach supermarket shelves (30%), and the amount that is lost due to inefficient or non-existent transportation and storage. Instead of sending food to poorer countries year after year, why not invest in infrastructure that will allow a country to distribute the food it grows efficiently? As you can tell, I feel very strongly about people going hungry. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I enjoy this forum so much--you all garden, and you all share.
