Mon Oct 1, 2012, 03:47 PM

Zalatix (8,994 posts)

Does anyone know of studies that show how much food supermarkets throw out every day/month/year?

I'm interested in figuring out how much food gets thrown out due to people not buying it.

It would present a much clearer picture from a whole new perspective of how wasteful America's food and grocery industry really is.

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13 replies	Author	Time	Post
Does anyone know of studies that show how much food supermarkets throw out every day/month/year? (Original post)	Zalatix	Oct 2012	OP
You mean how wasteful the stores are, not 'America'	leftstreet	Oct 2012	#1
Yes, thank you!	Zalatix	Oct 2012	#3
30 million pounds a day.	Luminous Animal	Oct 2012	#2
Holy crap! WTF, I never imagined it was that much.	Zalatix	Oct 2012	#4
And we ain't allowed to touch ANY of it.	HughBeaumont	Oct 2012	#5
Not true everywhere.	eppur_se_muova	Oct 2012	#9
A heartbreaking amount. I once asked after the discarded food for the poor	Fire Walk With Me	Oct 2012	#6
40 percent of our food gets thrown out.	RevStPatrick	Oct 2012	#7
Google the gov food secruity site	MysticLynx	Oct 2012	#8
I don't have any stats but I do have a story that made me angry......	mrmpa	Oct 2012	#10
I know someone fired from Target for a similar offense. n/t	MadrasT	Oct 2012	#11
At Trader Joe's...	lame54	Oct 2012	#12
Not all of them throw it away...	Aerows	Oct 2012	#13

Response to Zalatix (Original post)

Mon Oct 1, 2012, 03:48 PM

leftstreet (34,835 posts)

1. You mean how wasteful the stores are, not 'America'

Right?

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Response to leftstreet (Reply #1)

Mon Oct 1, 2012, 04:01 PM

Zalatix (8,994 posts)

3. Yes, thank you!

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Response to Zalatix (Original post)

Mon Oct 1, 2012, 03:50 PM

Luminous Animal (27,310 posts)

2. 30 million pounds a day.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548391291973152.html

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Response to Luminous Animal (Reply #2)

Mon Oct 1, 2012, 04:03 PM

Zalatix (8,994 posts)

4. Holy crap! WTF, I never imagined it was that much.

What I know already is why they waste food like that... if they didn't, food prices would be MUCH cheaper.

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Response to Luminous Animal (Reply #2)

Mon Oct 1, 2012, 04:05 PM

HughBeaumont (24,461 posts)

5. And we ain't allowed to touch ANY of it.

Most of the stuff they toss is very edible. That's the saddest shit of all.

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Response to HughBeaumont (Reply #5)

Mon Oct 1, 2012, 11:42 PM

eppur_se_muova (35,109 posts)

9. Not true everywhere.

A local charity collects food donated by supermarkets, considered 'surplus' because it's not selling fast enough, or too close to its sell-by date. Google 'second harvest' and your location to find one in your area.

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Response to Zalatix (Original post)

Mon Oct 1, 2012, 04:33 PM

Fire Walk With Me (38,893 posts)

6. A heartbreaking amount. I once asked after the discarded food for the poor

and was told if anyone got sick, the store would be liable.

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Response to Zalatix (Original post)

Mon Oct 1, 2012, 05:07 PM

RevStPatrick (2,208 posts)

7. 40 percent of our food gets thrown out.

This was talked about earlier this year...

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/22/40-of-u-s-food-wasted-report-says/

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Response to Zalatix (Original post)

Mon Oct 1, 2012, 05:37 PM

MysticLynx (51 posts)

8. Google the gov food secruity site

They usually post a PDF file with all the info each year. Been a while since I checked the stats but the last time I check it was like 40% of our food is thrown away. While we have 1 in every three children malnourished due to food insecurity. The logic to this just escapes me, 40% just thrown away while children starve - for what reason to 'protect' our monetary systems? * shakes head.

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Response to Zalatix (Original post)

Tue Oct 2, 2012, 01:05 AM

mrmpa (4,033 posts)

10. I don't have any stats but I do have a story that made me angry......

I have a friend whose son is a Loss Prevention Executive for a grocery store (southern region store moving northward). One of his stores threw out about 100 dozen ears of corn. A young man, a stocker, after work went out to the dumpster where the corn was. The stocker took 2 dozen corn out of the dumpster and put it in his car.

The young man was fired for theft. I asked the exec, why if the corn was still edible, it wasn't it donated to the food pantry. The answer was "we don't do that." I then asked, why the young man, couldn't be written up, suspended, and not fired. Answer was, "we don't do that.

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Response to mrmpa (Reply #10)

Tue Oct 2, 2012, 05:35 AM

MadrasT (7,237 posts)

11. I know someone fired from Target for a similar offense. n/t

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Response to Zalatix (Original post)

Tue Oct 2, 2012, 06:50 AM

lame54 (33,274 posts)

12. At Trader Joe's...

We donate most of our "spoils' every day - every store

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Response to Zalatix (Original post)

Tue Oct 2, 2012, 06:53 AM

Aerows (39,961 posts)

13. Not all of them throw it away...

I was in the grocery store on Sunday, you know, September 30th and went to get my normal gallon of milk, and they were selling a gallon with an expiration date of, wait for it - Oct. 01.

Thankfully I caught that before I bought it. I had to get 2% instead of the 1% I usually get. Want to guess which store I was in?

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