Essay On Food Waste In America

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One of the things that Americans take advantage of every day is the the seemingly endless amount of food. No matter where you go, it is almost ridiculous how easy it can be to get food in America, especially if you compare us to some less developed nations. However, what we don’t think about is how much of that that ends up thrown away and how it effects of the world around us. Approximately 25-40% of food grown, processed and transported in the U.S will never be consumed and more food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other material. (Food Waste in America) There are many reasons that contribute to the large amount of food going to waste in America. Two of the biggest are the large demand that the “western diet” entails and human …show more content…

However, farmers will throw out a large amount of food just because of “cosmetic imperfections”. (Mercola) Why do they do this? Because, a product that doesn’t “look right” won’t sell, because people perceive there to be something wrong with the food if it doesn’t look to their expectations. The farms and grocery stores aren’t the only places where mass food waste occurs. Half of the edible seafood is wasted each year, whether it’s lost during distribution, thrown out cause it’s the “wrong species” or thrown away by consumers. (Mercola) Which leads us to the next place where large amount of food waste occurs, in the kitchens of consumers. According to the USDA the average U.S family of 4, waste more than 2 million calories, which equates to $1500 worth of food …show more content…

See I work at a grocery store and just like many businesses throwing away perfectly good food is just daily routine there. The reasons vary from the looks of the product, the product staying on the shelf past its shelf life or a customer returning something after they decided they “didn’t need it” but because of company policy we have to throw it out even if the product is perfectly fine. Every time I see the dumpster at the end of each night I can’t but wonder if there is a better

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