Every person in America is guilty of this almost daily in some way or another, and that is wasting food by either letting it rot in your refrigerator, taking too much at dinner and throwing what is left into the garbage for some varmint to rummage through later, or even in the production process by throwing away a perfectly good potato because it doesn’t meet the size requirement for processing. In America, it’s something we don’t think about; rather it’s just a habit that causes us to lose money on that wasted food. Something we seem to forget about, however, is the fact that there are starving people in other parts of the world that could have benefitted from that. Contrariwise, American’s are not the only ones that can be accused of this heinous habit, because the rest of the world is just as bad at it. Food loss and food waste is a global problem that needs to be reduced to not only benefit people financially and protect the environment, but attempt to solve the food security equation.
Surprisingly, approximately one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption gets lost or wasted annually. That amount totals to nearly 1.3 billion tons of food wasted according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP): Environment for Development website. It’s hard to believe that consumers in richer countries waste almost as much food as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa that totaling near 230 million tons, because this ridiculous amount wasted could have been used more resourcefully. In more developed countries, food losses occur due to more financial, managerial and technical restrictions in harvesting, storing, and cooling techniques for food manufacturing. The UNEP website stresses that to red...
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...d up rotting in the back of the refrigerator. In the end, I think everything points back to what the consumer demands. Retailers want to satisfy the consumers so they will only sell the best quality of products. However, we tend to forget those people in other parts of the world that could have been eating the perfectly edible food. Food security is becoming an issue that needs more attention as the population continues to grow in size. I think after reviewing the statistical facts about the food waste in our world we could help those that are insecure and need food. Is this a solution to the food security equation? No. It is not. However, I do think that it is an attempt to achieving an extent of the food security throughout the world. It may be a challenge, but it is one of the most attainable goals in the world and easier to confront society with in the end.
Humans are damaging the planet to live comfortably, we must change the way food is distributed worldwide, support local farmers and switch to a healthier diet in order to stop global warming. The current global has been getting better for us humans over the years, from eating bread and eggs 3 times a day in the XV century, now we can eat better than the kings of those times, however the much of the food in not healthy and the global food system still fails in getting food to every individual in the planet and in addition it contributes to the destruction of our world. Ms. Anna Lappe explains how the food system contributes to around 1/3 of the global warming issue in her essay “The Climate Crisis at the End of Our Fork”, while a group of Plos one explains the issues about the export and import of food growth over the last 50 years in the
The tactics used for gaining land in foreign countries is a causing these developing nations to continue to have problems with food security. The mistreatment of the agro-workers and animals is just a way to get the most money in the least taxing way possible. The truth behind the global food system is told in this part of the book. The pros and cons are both listed, and even though the cons severely out-weigh the pros, I don’t believe there is going to be any change to peoples’ behavior towards food. I think this because although most people are informed that their food wasn’t grown in the best conditions, or treated as a family pet, but rather a means to an end, nothing has changed except for the fact that there are more documentaries like Food Inc. coming out. Something completely detrimental has to happen to the global food system in order for people to realize that what we are doing is not safe, healthy, or beneficial in the long run. Being aware of all these ethical issues in our food system is just the first step. Knowing how to provide a different solution to the problems we now face is the
As Americans, we waste more food than many countries even consume. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, “The average American trashes 10 times as much food as a consumer in South east Asia” (Hsu). That is about equivalent to eating 10 meals to a consumer in South East Asia’s one meal. We throw away our left over food just because we are done ea...
A major issue that is occurring in America is a phenomena known as “food deserts”, most are located in urban areas and it's difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. Whereas in the past, food deserts were thought to be solved with just placing a grocery store in the area, but with times it has become an issue that people are not picking the best nutritional option. This issue is not only making grocery store in food deserts are practically useless and not really eliminating the issue of food deserts because even when they are given a better nutritional option, and people are not taking it. In my perspective, it takes more than a grocery store to eliminate ‘food deserts’. It's more about demonstrating the good of picking the nutritional option and how it can help them and their families. For example, “Those who live in these areas are often subject to poor diets as a result and are at a greater risk of becoming obese or developing chronic diseases.”(Corapi, 2014).
According to Roni Neff, Marie Spiker, and Patricia Truant, up to 40% of all food produced in America is thrown away (Neff, Spiker, & Truant, 2015, p.2). This wasted food is worth hundreds of billions of dollars that is lost each year in the United States alone, and creates many threats to our country. Food waste is an important and widespread issue in the United States because most of the food thrown away is perfectly fine, it could be used to feed the hungry, and the waste hurts the environment.
According to the film, America throws away 96 million pounds of food every year. Much of this food is edible. Based upon a U.S. Department of Agriculture report in 1996 (cited in the film), if we could recover 25% of food that is wasted, we could feed 20 million people. In addition to the lost opportunity of feeding hungry Americans, the wasted food contributes to ever-growing landfills
The book The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food, by Wayne Roberts introduces us to the concept of “food system”, which has been neglected by many people in today’s fast-changing and fast-developing global food scene. Roberts points out that rather than food system, more people tend to recognize food as a problem or an opportunity. And he believes that instead of considering food as a “problem”, we should think first and foremost about food as an “opportunity”.
There are many problems confronting our global food system. One of them is that the food is not distributed fairly or evenly in the world. According “The Last Bite Is The World’s Food System Collapsing?” by Bee Wilson, “we are producing more food—more grain, more meat, more fruits and vegetables—than ever before, more cheaply than ever before” (Wilson, 2008). Here we are, producing more and more affordable food. However, the World Bank recently announced that thirty-three countries are still famine and hungers as the food price are climbing. Wilson stated, “despite the current food crisis, last year’s worldwide grain harvest was colossal, five per cent above the previous year’s” (Wilson, 2008). This statement support that the food is not distributed evenly. The food production actually increased but people are still in hunger and malnutrition. If the food were evenly distributed, this famine problem would’ve been not a problem. Wilson added, “the food economy has created a system in w...
The problem of wasting food is strongly featured in the everyday life on a U.S. Citizen. Americans leave 40% of food uneaten while there is people in America that are having trouble to put enough food on the table for their families(NRDC). Approximately 17% of people in the U.S. are not able to have enough food for their families daily(NRDC). Even a slight drop in the percentage of food wasted would have a large impact on those without food. The second problem of chemicals ruining farms is most prominent in developed countries. This problem first occurs with the use of landfills for toxic objects. Some landfills not being made correctly start to leak this toxic waste into the soil which can result is poisonous crops. This problem also occurs with the growing use of sewer sludge in the fertilizing of farms. This sewage sludge is often not filtered which may allow it to include heavy metals which can ruin plants. These problems show that developed countries like the United States have still not perfected their agricultural system to work without wasting food and ruining
We live in an age in which we have come to expect everything to be instantaneously at our fingertips. We live in an age of instant coffee, instant tea, and even instant mashed potatoes. We can walk down the street at 5 in the morning and get a gallon of milk or even a weeks worth of groceries at our discretion. Even though it is great that food is now readily available at all times, this convenience comes at a price, for both the producer and the consumer. Farmers are cheated out of money and are slaves to big business, workers and animals are mistreated. And, because food now comes at a low cost, it has become cheaper quality and therefore potentially dangerous to the consumer’s health. These problems surrounding the ethics and the procedures of the instantaneous food system are left unchanged due to the obliviousness of the consumers and the dollar signs in the eyes of the government and big business. The problem begins with the mistreatment and exploitation of farmers.
It’s amazing how one day you’re eating from a white plate at a square table at a restaurant or your own comfortable home, and one little job messes all that up and you’re stuck eating food from the garbage in your hands. Those leftovers that still worked that you threw away yesterday without looking back, without thinking that one day you’ll be like the persons you ignore in the streets when they ask you for any spare change. Many people take for granted those everyday meals that you end up leaving half way and throw away, but someone outside your home is eating week old meatloaf found in a near by
Americans buy and waste food like it’s their job. I am guilty of buying and wasting food as well . For example,we all have a favorite food and have a tendency to want more than our stomachs can hold.How many of us actually go back and eat that food . For example I love tacos especially from my favorite restaurant Nacho mama's. I can't help but order some to go for lunch later in theweek. But my left overs never end up making it to my lunch plate. They end up being thrown to the back of the fridge not to be looked at, until the fridge starts to smell. When cleaning out the fridge one might not think that throwing away a few tacos or a carton of milk is a big deal, but over time food adds up. And it adds up exponentially in our landfills.
In America alone, we as a country waste approximately 60 million tons of food (as of 2016). This food that is being wasted is not passed it’s expiration date, not rotten or bad, but it is merely found ugly. Though not all the blame is to be placed on the consumer alone, but also on the producer.
In order to promote sustainable policy, there must be an incentive to implement change. If any part of the food chain (i.e. producers, suppliers, processors, etc.) cannot keep up with the public demand of food, the food system is unproductive. Although progressive policy might possess the correct intentions, it must be physically and economically feasible. Ironically, contemporary food systems already produce mass amounts of food, but have zero nutritional value or are quite expensive. As a result, we see a dichotomy between production and consumption; both are issues that are addressed by the food policy initiatives in the last section. However, critiques of policy change would argue that our food system is too entrenched in mass production
...veryday foods require a lot of energy and release a lot of greenhouse gases to produce. This is the reason we should stop wasting the foods, consume less meat, and eat more locally grown food.