Food Losses

As a kid, I hated eating carrots. I hated their smell, their color, and their texture, so I used to pick out carrots whenever they invaded my plates.  Every time I picked out carrots and not eat them, my mom would say, “You’d better not leave and waste any food, because you would need to eat them altogether in your afterlife.” That was her way of parenting

Whether we actually have to eat all the food we wasted in our afterlife or not remains mystery, but it is important to be aware of how much food we are allowing to be wasted. As much as I was conditioned to think wasting food is bad, food waste, or food loss, indeed is a serious problem and talk of the town.

According to the following article, food loss refers to amount of any food that goes uneaten (or not consumed) for any reason. According to this article, food loss in the United States exceeded 31% of the entire available food supply in 2010. Although certain amount of food is inevitable to be wasted due to perishable nature of food, civil action and public education can definitely reduce the amount of food loss. Check this article out to learn more about USDA’s report and their insights about food loss.

Link to USDA's report:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1282296/eib121.pdf