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Food Waste In America

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Out of all the food produced in America, we let up to 40 percent of it go to waste and a big part of that problem is the stores selling it. Grocery stores throw out an outrageous amount of edible food each year that fills our landfills instead of hungry bellies, wastes resources used for harvesting and transporting food, and wastes retailers’ money. There are ways retailers can reduce food waste and wasting of resources by donating food, composting, and marking down foods not up to standards. Most food you see in the supermarket does end up being purchased but a large amount of that food is actually thrown out. NRDC author Dana Gunders states, “In-store food losses in the United States totaled an estimated 43 billion pounds in 2008, equivalent to 10 percent of the total food supply at the retail level” (Gunders, pg. 10). So what are some of the reasons all this food goes to waste? Supermarkets keep such high food standards for their consumers resulting in unnecessary food waste such as a whole carton of eggs being thrown away simply because one is cracked or a bag of oranges being tossed because one orange had a spot on it. Customers often buy produce from stores that they know have high quality foods. Retailers can attract more people to buy these foods if they look appealing so they must be the same size, shape, and color. Retailers must also order enough food so they don’t …show more content…
A lot goes into the production of food and getting it to the retailer. The food must be farmed, harvested and packaged, processed, distributed, and then sold. 40% of the food raised in the United States never gets eaten. This means farmers are wasting land, fossil fuels, chemicals, water, and labor, on food that will never be eaten. One-fifth of our land area in the United States is used for crop production. Food and agriculture consume one hundred times more water than we use for personal uses.

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