Food Waste Intelligence

In the United States, every day we throw away enough food to fill the Rose Bowl Stadium while at the same time one in six Americans face hunger. How can we turn these troubling statistics around? While there is no one solution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Food Recovery Hierarchy (Figure 1) is a good place to start. Each level of the hierarchy has unique benefits, but this guide will focus on the second level from the top: feeding hungry people, or food donation.

Most Consumer Survey Respondents Say They Waste ‘Less than the Average American’ Last month the results from a unique consumer-focused food waste survey were released. The study was conducted in 2014 with research funded by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. As far as the researchers know, it’s the first nationally representative consumer-focused U.S. food waste survey of its kind. The survey asked a series of questions including how “aware” consumers are about wasted foods, what shapes their behavior, and what motivates t...

(Hint: It's more than just the cost of the food getting trashed.) Wasted food is wasted money. As a foodservice operator, you are very aware of this connection. But we’re not just talking about the cost of the food that you’re throwing away. Food cost is certainly a major factor, but it doesn’t stop there—you’re paying for that “waste” many times over. In fact, five times by our calculation. Here’s the cold hard truth about the cost of that pan of rosemary chicken headed for the waste bin:

* Content for this article was provided in part by the short film Wasted, by Karim Chrobog. Watch part 2 of the film here. If you had to pay a fee for wasting food, would you cut back on what you throw out? South Korea bet on the answer being a resounding "yes," which is why it is now the country with the world's strictest food waste laws.

You measure your foodservice operation’s health by looking at a range of key metrics: quality, safety, sanitation and profit. But what about food waste? Is that on your daily “scoreboard” as a measure of success? For most, it’s missing.