In the Spring issue of Edible Ohio Valley magazine, we shed light on the challenge of food waste in the U.S. It’s a staggering problem: As writer Amy Leibrock notes:
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), up to 40% of food in the U.S. goes to waste. That’s an average of 400 pounds per person per year, about the weight Fiona the hippo reached last August.
This volume of discarded food is a tragedy on many levels. It’s a waste of the energy, water, fertilizer, and land that goes into growing, processing, transporting, and refrigerating our food. Not to mention the impact it has on our own pocketbooks. A family of four spends $1,500 each year on food that never gets eaten. If we could learn to waste less, it would be like getting a 20% discount on every shopping bill.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy, however, is that in the midst of all this waste, one in eight Americans struggles with food insecurity. In the Cincinnati area, those statistics are worse. One in four of our neighbors has trouble putting food on the table at some point during the year.
Daily Table, a Boston grocery store founded by a veteran of Trader Joe’s, has an interesting solution: Take blemished or just-past-expiration-date food that’s commonly discarded and sell it in a neighborhood store at a discount. Read more about Daily Table here. Founder Doug Rauch likens the model to that of TJ Maxx, which sells overstock or out of season merchandise on the cheap.
Read the story, and you’ll understand the challenges of this retail model, which relies on an inconsistent flow of goods and fights the “food pantry” stigma. You’ll also understand the potential, like the Daily Table shopper who dropped significant weight and ditched his diabetes meds after gaining access to whole, healthy food.
[UPDATE] And there’s this: The Salvation Army is launching what it hopes will become a chain of discount grocery stores in neighborhoods designated as food deserts; according to this report, the first outlet opened in Baltimore this month.
[image via Creative Commons]
Bryn, I read a story yesterday that said the Salvation Army is opening a similar “test” soon.
I saw that, too, Frank — looks like there might be a small wave building…