Kyle Rabin's Food Waste

Today in America, food is being wasted on a huge scale. In Kyle Rabin's Food Waste article, he states that 20,000 tons of food are thrown out each day. Food is wasted in schools, restaurants, grocery stores, farms, and homes. The more food we waste, the more water we waste through production of different foods and production chains. Fruits, veggies, meat, and grain all use different amounts of water. Production chains also waste water.

Fruits and veggies have high concentrations of water. Wheat, however, has a lower concentration. "Fruits and vegetables are the largest source of loss and waste on a weight basis - in part, because they contain more water than other foods." (Barclay) Why is that bad? Because throwing it out, throws away that

water too. Throwing out wheat wastes less water, but that doesn't make it okay.

Meat uses very high amounts of water to produce. Water is used to grow hay. The hay is fed to the animals (or the meat if you will). It may use a ton of water, but meat is less likely to be tossed.(Barclay) "Meat production requires between 8 and 10 times more water than grain production, according to the WWAP."(Barclay)

Productions chains require water all the time. The water used in production makes the plants grow. Wasted food from that process throws away water. Water immediately evaporates when food is being stored. "The moisture in food lost immediately post-harvest or during open storage will likely evaporate." (Barclay) When food is wasted, all that water from production goes to waste. "Given the water-intensive nature of growing, processing, packaging, warehousing, transporting and preparing food, it follows that wasted food means wasted water." (Rabin)

Production of different foods and the production chain both require a lot of water. When we waste that food, we waste that water. Wasting fresh water wastes our planets chance for survival. Thinking about the water in the food will help prevent it being wasted.