Food Waste Intelligence

Leaving a career is never easy, and leaving one that you’ve been doing your entire life is outright scary. I’ve been a chef my whole life. Over 30 years of being in the heat of the battle—the chaos and beauty that is a working kitchen. The kitchen has always been my refuge, my happy place. I’ve been a dishwasher, line cook, student chef, Executive Chef, Culinary Dean, Regional Executive Chef, and National Culinary Director. My career has included extensive travel and stints in hotels, country clubs, B & I accounts, restaurants, and se...

I come to LeanPath following a lengthy career in the supply chain sector in operations and finance roles, where I spent a considerable amount of time focused excessively on the financial bottom line and all of the associated operational drivers.

Many foodservice operations incorporate donating excess edible food into their food waste strategy and overall mission to do good. The US EPA food recovery hierarchy, which has long been a guiding resource for prioritization of food waste solutions, positions feeding hungry people just below source reduction for preferred approaches to food waste. And it seems like it’s hard to argue with the inherent “good” that comes along with feeding hungry people, right?

A recent report from SaveOnEnergy.com illustrates the potential benefits of converting wasted food to energy, and the findings are very compelling. Using the average weight of food wasted per person in North America, the report calculates the approximate energy that could be generated should the food be digested rather than sent to landfill.

Continuing the push for more food waste legislation, United States Congress Representatives Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and James P. McGovern (D-MA) introduced The Food Donation Act of 2017 (H.R. 952) earlier this month. The bill amends The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (the Emerson Act), which was passed in 1996 to encourage food donation by offering protection from liability to those who donate food in good faith.