Food Wasted by US & Europe Could Feed the World 3 Times Over.

[TalkingDog]

http://www.nextgenerationfood.com/news/looking-at-food-waste/

In the US, a report in Plos One at the end of last year found that per capita food waste has progressively increased by 50 percent since 1974 reaching more than 1400 calories per person per day or 150 trillion calories per year. Food waste now accounts for more than one quarter of the total freshwater consumption and 300 million barrels of oil per year.

The study funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases - The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact, found that 40 percent of all the food produced in the US is thrown out.

According to the CDC, Americans consume about 2600 calories a day on average. Based on that estimate, 1400 calories is roughly a meal and a half of food wasted every day (or a Big Mac meal with a large Coke).


/snip

It's interesting that they count overeating as food waste. Technically that is factual, but I imagine you'd have a hard time convincing those that overeat.

[polly7]

1. Add what we waste in Canada and we could feed even more, it's disgusting. n/t.

Edit for crappy spelling ....... how lame is that. I forget we have a check spelling button. D'oh.

[dipsydoodle]

2. One of the main root causes of this is packaging

into predetermined quantities which give rise to wastage.

[enlightenment]

3. I've long thought that someone with the know-how

should start a 'smaller plate' campaign. It annoys me to go to a restaurant and be served enough food to feed an army. I'm not impressed with their generosity, really. I'd like to be able to order a smaller portion - usually about half what they serve. I'd be willing to pay a little more than half (say, if a full portion is $10, I'd be willing to pay $6.50 or $7 for a half portion) for the effort. Haven't been able to convince any of my local restaurants to give that a try . . .

Restaurants use gigantic plates - platter sized, almost - and then feel the need to fill them. Use smaller plates. The plates are full with less food on them, and people are still satisfied because for most it's more about what they see then what they actually consume.

[TalkingDog]

6. We split those between us.

And are still full. People look at us like we have two heads, but frankly most of them have two bodies, so I guess it evens out.

And we don't tip according to our ticket, we tip according to what two folks would pay for eating two meals. It's not the wait staff's fault they put too much on the plate.


(And for those who want to snipe about fat bashing, I'm not bashing people with real problems. I'm suggesting most of the folks we see eating, quite literally enough for two, should reconsider their portion sizes and their mindless consumption.)

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. That '3 times over' claim seems to be pulled from nowhere

and I suspect it's very wrong. For instance, their 'infographic' says the US wastes 150,000,000,000,000 calories per year, and that "2 billion people could be fed for a year" with that. That would be 75,000 calories per person per year, or about 200 calories per day. So I think they've left a zero off somewhere. After all, they're claiming that the waste from a population of 300 million people could feed 2 billion, but that the waste is 40%.

[TalkingDog]

7. Are you including Europe too?

I didn't see in your calculations that you had included those numbers.

If you did, perhaps you should jot them a note, letting them know they've dropped a decimal place.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. They didn't include Europe either in the calorie calculations I quoted

They said that the US waste could feed 2 billion people (under a third of the world), but that's just 200 calories per person per day. The "US and Europe" claim comes, as I said, out of nowhere - there's no attempt to justify it with figures, and it's frankly unbelievable as stated. The US plus Europe is under 1200 million (and that's including all of Russia and Turkey) - about 17% of the world. To feed it 3 times over, the amount of food wasted would have to be about 95%. They never actually give any figures at all for 'Europe' - just waste in the US and UK (you can't assume the whole of the 830 million people in Europe has the same pattern of waste as the UK).

It's possible that they may have taken some statistic like "if the whole world turned vegan and food was produced as efficiently as possible, the world could be fed 3 times over", but that is different.

Yeah, I will leave them a comment pointing out the problems with their numbers.

On edit: I may have found the source of their claim. It could be this:

In Waste, author Tristram Stuart asks why North America and Europe throw away 30% to 50% of their food. He claims that the fresh produce discarded by farmers, manufacturers, supermarkets, and consumers could feed the millions of starving people in the world at least three times over. He argues that avoiding waste is the easiest remedy to a global food crisis.
...
http://development.asia/issue05/must-read-01.asp

My emphasis. There's a lot of difference between 'feeding the millions of starving people' and 'feeding the world'. It will depend on your definition of 'starving', but it's notable that quote talks about millions, not billions.

Yeah, there's a lot of food waste in developed countries, but it's not a simple matter of "enough food for 20 billion if only we stop throwing stuff away".

[TalkingDog]

11. Leads tailored to snag readers. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. There's still the problem of the '200 calories per day' calculation

It's not just the change of "the starving" to "the world". I left a comment; we'll see if the 'Creative Writing' graduate replies.

[Jennicut]

5. 2600 calories a day on average?! Wow. I can only eat 1400 cal a day (I am a diabetic).

2600 a day? That would be almost twice the amount. I wish. I guess my diet is stricter then I thought.
I think we are extremely wasteful. I have cans of food that sit in my cabinet because no one feels like eating that particular soup. I am going to donate it instead of letting it sit there.

[TalkingDog]

8. Yeah, it sounds like we are about the same size.

Men are lucky, testosterone burns cals a lot faster.

But I will say that in the summer, when I'm in the gardens all day, I can eat like a horse and still lose weight.

[Jennicut]

10. Yeah, my metabolism is all messed up. Taking insulin makes it hard to loose weight.

I have to eat a small amount a calories and yet still be able to function and not make my metabolism even slower. I was eating 1000 calories before but was told by my endocrinologist that was too low so I usually eat between 1200 and 1400.