Between 40 and 50% of all food ready for harvest in the US never gets eaten, according to a new study from the University of Arizona.
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Timothy Jones, an anthropologist at the UA Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, has spent the last ten years measuring food loss, including the last eight under a grant from the US Department of Agriculture. Jones started in the farms and orchards before going on to study food in warehouses, retail outlets and dining rooms, and finally landfills.
His research suggests that not only is edible food being discarded, but the rate of loss, if even partially corrected, could save US consumers and corporations tens of billions of dollars each year.
A certain amount of waste in the food stream simply can’t be helped; little can be done about weather and crop deterioration. The apple industry, for example, loses on average about 12% of its crop on the way to market.
Further along the food supply chain, households waste 14% of their food purchases on average. Fifteen percent of that includes products still within their expiration date but never opened. Jones estimates an average family of four currently tosses out US$590 per year, just in meat, fruits, vegetables and grain products.
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