Food loss is the bigger category, and incorporates any edible food that goes uneaten at any stage. There are two main kinds of wasted food: food loss and food waste. At a time when 12 percent of American households are food insecure 4, reducing food waste by just 15 percent could provide enough sustenance to feed more than 25 million people, annually. 3 Uneaten food also puts unneeded strain on the environment by wasting valuable resources like water and farmland. 2 Food waste also has a staggering price tag, costing this country approximately $218 billion per year. Food is lost or wasted for a variety of reasons: bad weather, processing problems, overproduction and unstable markets cause food loss long before it arrives in a grocery store, while overbuying, poor planning and confusion over labels and safety contribute to food waste at stores and in homes. 1 Of the estimated 125 to 160 billion pounds of food that goes to waste every year, much of it is perfectly edible and nutritious. America wastes roughly 40 percent of its food.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |