# Food Waste



## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I had the misfortune of having to drive into Ft. Worth a while back and parked next to one of the big chain grocery stores and was shocked by what I saw at the back loading dock. An overhead loader drove up to a tractor/trailer sized container and dump 4 large full dumpsters of produce and cans into it. I just sat there, watched, and counted the loads and watched what was dumped, those four loads appeared to be the last that would fit in the trailer. I know that old produce and out of date cans legally cant be sold and sometimes are not fit for consumption but I always assumed that the "stuff" nearing the end of its shelf life or expiration date was either put on sale or donated to a food kitchen.

I talked to one of my daughters about it and was informed that the waste wasnt restricted to grocery stores. They said that the resturants, between uneaten and spoiled food dumped large quantities also.

I have since learned that up to %60 percent of the food produced in this country is dumped/discarded without being sold or consumed. I knew their was alot of food waste in this country but I had never actually seen it on that scale before.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

We throw away more food than most countrys eat. I've always been very conservative with food and most everything else.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

I eat pretty well IMHO off the packaged leftovers that so many people forget to take with them from just one of the local restaurants, and I raise 1 pig a year on the food waste and could conservatively raise 5-6 more, easy (I raised 2 pigs once, but they got jealous of each other and caused all sorts of mischief  )


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## SMOKEYMOUNTAIN (Dec 5, 2011)

My buddy works at Costco. He used to work in the bakery. They would bake fresh muffins, pies, cakes, etc. each morning.

Anything leftover at the day's end is tossed. I kid you not.


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## Jezcruzen (Oct 21, 2008)

There was once a guy here that would drive around to the grocery stores and load the out of date breads and dairy products into his stake truck. I would see him often traveling with his truck filled with packaged bread of all kinds. He fed it to his hogs.

I sometimes hit my local Kroger store's deli area for reduced-price bakery bread. They mark it down each day after 2 PM. Specialty breads like cabata and others that were $4 an hour earlier are now selling for .99. I buy what I like and freeze it.

There is a group... a national group, I think... called "Second Harvest". Growers let volunteers from this group glean fields that have already been picked for whatever was overlooked or not pretty enough. SH supplies food kitchens for the hungry.


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## SageAdvicefarmgirl (Jun 23, 2011)

I volunteer at a homeless ministry in my area, the restaraunts and groc stores here are allowed to donate their food to any PRIVATELY OPERATED homeless ministry and its greatly appreciated!

The local donut shop, tho, used to give day old donuts to an orphanage, and was ordered to stop because the orphanage is GOVT funded and they deemed it UNHEALTHY for kids to eat donuts! (Like they couldn't just say, one donut each?!!) Anyway, the homeless shelters get donuts, now...


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## GaryS (Nov 15, 2011)

When I lived in a small town in WA, the Albertson's store would leave edible food on a table behind the store so the homeless people wouldn't raid their dumpsters. The health dept wrote them up and they had to stop doing it, so it was back to dumpster diving. 

Nothing like a well-intentioned, but brainless bureaucrat to screw up a good thing.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Forgotten Harvest: Driving hunger from the Detroit metropolitan community


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