Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Emily Winegar
10 April 2018
“About one-third of the world’s edible food is lost or wasted annually” (Vinegar 1). Food
waste is caused by many things, markets, farmers, overproduction, consumers, grocery stores,
date labels and many more. With so many contributors to the growing “63 billions tons of
waste...of which 10.1 million never get[s] harvested... and 52.4 million tons ends up in landfills
uneaten”(Leib et al 1). With such staggering numbers, how can we individually as consumers,
citizens, and lawmakers fight this growing global problem? As the prophet Alma preaches in the
Ladder Day Saint Scripture, only through “small and simple things, are great things brought to
pass.” With such a hard problem to tackle in the world, it is only through numerous small acts to
make an actual difference. Through simple household and food industry efforts, we can
We don’t realize how much of waste we are throwing out in our households, because it
gets taken away weekly. C A Tucker and T Farrelly found in New Zealand that “around 44,000
tonnes of waste is dumped per year (at a cost of $106 per tonne)”(684). That’s just for one
country, but it is much bigger globally. Why do we as consumers waste so much? David Evans
argues that it is become habitual and even cultural for societies to do so (qtd in Lazell). Day
routines include food waste, causing whole societies to ignore its consequence. Because societies
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Through small means individuals in their households can save food and money by
accurately storing them. Tristram Stuart, a food waste activator and author gave an example of
this, in an experiment that he held with lettuce. With placing one head of lettuce in the fridge,
another on the counter and the last in a vase with water, he observed their health over ten
consecutive days. Finding that only the vase held lettuce was at full health, and remaining to be
in the next two weeks, he concluded that he had found a better way to store lettuce. Evidence of
If we encourage consumers to shop, store, and cook smarter, much of the food waste
from households will disappear. Justin Warner, a famous television chef, informs of his
experience with food waste in his position in his interview with Jared Kauffman. Giving
examples such vacuum sealers, spinach loosely packed, and buying only what is needed.
F.1 Stuart’s 10 day experiment. Left bundle of lettuce was kept in the fridge, middle on the counter, and
right in a vase. The far right piece of lettuce stayed fresh for the next couple of weeks. Storing produce may be the
Not only do consumers not know how to store food, but most are unaware of the validity
of food labels on our food. Chris Hunt has found that most food freshness labels for companies
don’t show the actual freshnes of the product. The labels are:
• "production" or "pack" date– date on which the food was manufactured or placed in
final packaging• "sell by" date– used by retailers for stock control.• "best if used by" date –
generally indicates when the food will no longer be at its highest quality.• "use by" date–
typically used by manufactures to mean the same thing as “best if used by.”• "freeze by" date –
recommended date for freezing.• "enjoy by" date – this label is used by some manufacturers,
With confusion with the labeling system, and food safety laws, too much food is being
wasted because of it. The eat by date just indicates that the food will no longer be at its “highest
quality,” too many are confused and throw the product away. Majority of the food that gets
tossed out is from misunderstanding of what the food date label means (Leib et al 1). Amanda
Brown, the manager at Riverton’s Kneaders Bakery & Cafe, also informs small ways that her
little company decreases food waste. Such as placing the oldest pastries to be sold first, and
putting samples out for customers of the bread that is closest to be be unservable by policy
standards. This not only saves her bread and pastries from waste, but also advertises her
company’s product.
Safety regulations and picky restaurant industries contribute to the vast humber of food
waste. In the article “Waste not want not,” Elizabeth Royte states, ”upscale grocers have started
running their produce departments like beauty pageants” with the irregular shaped produce being
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thrown out (39). Not only is this perfectly edible and safe food thrown out but with strict safety
regulations, many farmers are scared to donate their surplus.’ For example, a farmer investing
16,000 pounds of his spinach all gone because a little bit of grass was growing among it (Stuart).
Situations like these, it does make sense why farmer and corporations would withhold their food.
As Leib et al. have found, “regulations can serve as barriers to food donations because donors
and recipients find it challenging to discern which regulations apply to donated food(32).”
However, there are many ways corporations can donate, and do so in simple ways. For
example, Kneaders, with their leftover bread that they don’t use, get taken to a local animal
shelter. Chef Justin explains on the reality Television Show, “Guy’s Grocery Games,“ that every
couple of shows, the extra meat, produce, or other product that doesn’t get used goes to a local
shelter, or goes to compost (Kauffman). Other ways that have been used to save in Picardy in
France is that they have volunteers glean 1,100 pounds of produce that was too small
foregulations to harvest. From this effort they were able to use their ingredients to help feed
F.2 An infographic showing of the massive food waste problem. Five simple steps can be used to decrease
As the phrase says, light hands make light work, it is true for food waste. Food waste is
too big of a problem to be overlooked in households and in food industries. It is only through
working in unity doing the small kind acts for humanity that we as a world are able to reduce our
problems. As Chef Justin says, “half of waste and spoilage is simply about respect...of time...
ingredients and the people who brought them to you... But look at our country. Obviously,
Works Cited
Hunt, Chris. Food Date Labels: Consumer Safeguard, or Confusing Waste of Food and Money?.
Kaufman, Jared. “Food Network Chef Justin Warner Talks Food System, Sustainability, Tiny
Prevention." Journal of Consumer Behaviour, vol. 15, no. 5, Sep/Oct2016, pp. 430-439.
EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/cb.1581.
Leib, Emily Broad, Christina Rice, Jill Mahoney, Alene Anello, Jabari Brown, Robin Cheng,
Erika Dunyak, Daniel Edelstein, Claudia Golden, Candace Hensley, Meaghan Jerret,
Xie,
and Conrad Zhong. “Keeping Food Out of the Landfill:Policy Ideas for States and
Localities.”endhunger. Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic. October 2016. Web. 13
April 2018.
Royte, Elizabeth. "Waste Not Want Not." National Geographic, vol. 229, no. 3, Mar. 2016, pp.
30-55.EBSCOhost,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1133378
04&site=ehost-live.
Stuart, Tristram. The Global Food Waste Scandal. TED Conferences, LLC. London 2012. Web.
15 April 2018.
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Tucker, C.A. and T. Farrelly. "Household Food Waste: The Implications of Consumer Choice in
Food from Purchase to Disposal." Local Environment, vol. 21, no. 6, June 2016, pp.
Vinegar, Russell, et al. "More Than a Response to Food Insecurity: Demographics and Social
Networks of Urban Dumpster Divers." Local Environment, vol. 21, no. 2, Feb. 2016, pp.