The Aspen Institute posted today a new report on global food waste from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Horrifying findings indicate that 30–50% (or 1.2–2 billion tons) of all food produced worldwide never makes it to human stomachs and that in developed countries like the U.S. 30–50% of the food people buy to eat gets thrown in the trash.
Photo via the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
As Dan Glickman, author of the post, points out:
Thinking about the United States, where one in seven citizens is on food stamps and many more partially reliant on food banks (which regularly complain of shortages), even a fraction of that wasted food making its way to the dinner table would change the lives of millions of Americans.
Not coincidentally, food waste guru Jonathan Bloom reports today on Wasted Food:
Exciting News: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Environmental Program and several other partners have joined forces to create Think. Eat. Save, a one-stop shop for your anti-food-waste needs.
Check out that site here and the full Global Food: Waste Not, Want Not report here.
Update: My favorite of the tips from the UN campaign is:
Buy Funny Fruit—many fruits and vegetables are thrown out because their size, shape, or color are not “right”. Buying these perfectly good funny fruit, at the farmer’s market or elsewhere, utilizes food that might otherwise go to waste.
Tags: Aspen Institute, Dan Glickman, Food, Food waste, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Jonathan Bloom, Think. Eat. Save., United Nations, Wasted Food
