food waste

I found two interesting articles on wasting food. I felt it was appropriate to highlight since this is the time of year where we go to a lot of parties, bring a lot of pot luck dishes, have family over for celebrations, resulting in a lot of food and a lot of waste.

From the Washington Post: Costs of Food Waste Pile Up
Food waste has been a chronic problem for restaurants and grocery stores — with millions of tons lost along the way as crops are hauled hundreds of miles, stored for weeks in refrigerators and prepared on hectic restaurant assembly lines. But the historically high price of commodities is making it an even bigger drag on the bottom line.

Restaurants, colleges, hospitals and other institutions are compensating for the rising costs of waste in novel ways. Some are tracking their trash with software systems, making food in smaller batches or trying to compost and cut down on trash-hauling costs.

From Culinate.com, The Food Not Eaten
As a symbol of American abundance, Thanksgiving hints at just how much food there is to squander. And squander we do, from farm to fork. More than 40 percent of all food produced in America is not eaten, according to research by former University of Arizona anthropologist Timothy Jones. That amounts to more than 29 million tons of food waste each year, or enough to fill the Rose Bowl every three days. Nationwide, food scraps make up 17 percent of what we send to landfills.

The author of this article also has his own website, which I am finding very interesting, http://www.wastedfood.com/.

So, enjoy your leftovers and please think twice before you throw something away.