Food Waste Focus

When we think about food waste we often reflect on the food that goes in the trash can directly from our plates. As it turns out the food waste problem starts much further up the chain at the farm. Each year millions of tons of food go in the trash because these items are misshapen. [...]

NPR recently ran a story titled, “Gleaning: A Harvest for The Needy by Fighting Waste“.   The article describes how modern agriculture leaves 96 Billion pounds of food in fields and notes that “gleaners” are starting to organize to harvest and provide it to those in need.  This is a great thing. It also raises a [...]

No one wins when foodservice operations waste food.   Not only does the waste consume scarce financial resources and create adverse environmental impacts, it also takes food out of the system that might otherwise feed hungry people. The US Environmental Protection Agency lists “feeding hungry people” as the second highest strategy for handling food waste (one [...]

(This article recently appeared in the July 6, 2010 On-line Issue of Food Management magazine) This Practice Can be Part of a Recycling Program, But Many Restrictions Apply. According to the FDA, kitchen waste may be fed to livestock, but there are regulations and restrictions that apply, and a food service establishment that wants to [...]

Not everyone uses the same words when they talk about food waste. Some refer to “waste” while others say “food residuals” “food surplus” “food scraps” or “organic waste.” The word choice often varies based on the relationship of the speaker to the food: for example, one chef might see overproduction and call it “food waste” [...]

We were pleased to exhibit at the National Restaurant show in Chicago this year (NRA 2010).  Andrew Shakman was one of the presenters at the NRA Conserve Pavilion.  He was able to give three speeches over the course of four days. This link will take you to the presentation for “ABC’s of Food Waste Management: Reduction [...]

Once managers and staff members begin a waste tracking/prevention program, we often see a spike in “expired” products – items which have exceeded acceptable time limits.  The reason is that these teams are doing a great job at safely saving leftovers but they need to identify enough good opportunities to utilize the leftovers before they [...]

How important is Food Donation?  Looking at the EPA Food Waste Hierarchy we see that the best way to eliminate food waste is to reduce it at the source.  Source reduction is the easiest, best and least expensive way to reduce your waste footprint.  The next best thing is food donation – feeding hungry people.  [...]

New York City – the Big Apple…wasting apples?  Is this true?  No.  But it’s an excellent video demonstrating the huge amount of food waste generated.  Check it out:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V5fKX_U3qY&feature=player_embedded Sometimes it takes an example like this to help everyone get a grasp on the true volume of food waste.  A single item, filling up a [...]

What is “Food Rescue”? Food Rescue: the practice of safely retrieving edible food that would otherwise go to waste and distributing it to those in need. Why is this important? 90% of low-income households with at least one child under the age of 12 use food pantries and soup kitchens and also participate in the [...]