And Brits, apparently, are as bad if not even worse.
By Michael Smith (Veshengro)
In the United States, it seems that food is everywhere we look.
Driving down the highway, one sees signs for a plethora of fast food restaurants, and food companies spend millions of dollars each year coming up with new value-added food products to attract consumer dollars.
To be honest I have never seen so many signs for diners and motels as I have when see towns and cities in the USA.
This has not only resulted in an increasingly overweight population, but a citizenry that has begun to waste food at levels never seen before – even in the middle of a recession and with hunger rising, and many people dependent on soup kitchens.
A new study has found that Americans waste 1,400 calories per person per day, or nearly 40% of the county's entire food supply. But that's not even the most disturbing statistic.
In order to produce the 1,400 calories that Americans toss into the trash everyday, we use one-fourth of the country's supply of fresh water. In addition, three hundred million barrels of oil are used each year to produce food that eventually just gets thrown away.
What the heck is wrong with us America? This is completely and utterly unacceptable.
It is not America only, however, that thus wastes food. British studies suggest that in the UK up to 50% of all food is waste.
One might like to assume that a lot of this food waste comes from more institutional culprits – restaurants, hotels, corporate offices – but that does not mean that we are not responsible as individuals or that we should not all strive to reduce the waste in our lives.
A great deal of the food waste in Britain is often due to the fact that people in households do not understand the difference between “best before” date and “use by” date.
The “best before” means just that; the food is at its best before that date but does not mean that immediately on reaching that date or a day after it is no longer safe to eat – it is.
The “use by” date is a slightly different story and food that has gone more than a couple of days beyond that could be unsafe but not necessarily so.
The there is the “sell by” date on some products that is meant for the stores and not the consumer and also causes lots of confusion to the consumer.
Hence lot of food perfectly safe to eat is thrown into the trash bins – it is not even composted – and thus wasted.
There are many easy ways to do this, including donating excess food, composting and most importantly (this really seems like common sense, but I guess it's not) only buying what you or your family can eat.
Recovering just a fraction of the food we waste in the USA, the UK and other developed countries, for I am sure our two countries are not alone here, would feed millions of hungry people.
In addition to the standard waste in Britain, per example, it is illegal for stores to give away, say, sandwiches at the end of the day to people who could very well do with them, or fruit and vegetables that have blemishes or slight soft spots. All of this has to be thrown and, in fact, rendered unsuitable for human consumption. The latter is being done by throwing bleach over the food when it is thrown into the dumpsters of many store groups.
What a waste!
© 2010
