Food Waste Problems
Check out this news article:
I am very happy to hear that France is making it illegal for supermarkets to throw away edible food! When I saw this peace of news, I had to suppress the urge to leap up and yell in joy. I work in a supermarket myself in a department that handles food and I've also worked in other jobs where I have also handled food. I have aways been disgusted with how much food supermarkets and other food chains throw out each day. I had to throw out perfectly fine cooked drumsticks and salmon and even pounds of romaine because they don't want to use the outer leaves for salads. I don't care if customers complain the outer leaves are rough or the texture is horrible. I use every single leaf when I cook at home.
Why? Because you don't know how just a single leaf of lettuce could make a child in a third world country smile in joy and wolf down hungrily. It could mean life and death for them just to have even a single slice of an apple. My aunt had always taught me to not be wasteful when I am cooking and eating and to always think of those on the other side of the world that are starving. I don't throw away leftovers for days and just keep recooking/reheating them until I finish it over a course of several days or it smells bad. When I have too much bread at home, I tend to break up the bread and then drop them on the front yard of my building for birds and squirrels even more during the summer as I head for work.
Food is a daily necessity and shouldn't be tossed away just because it's past its expiration date. I have been to food pantries where I pick up stuff from places like Jewel's, Mariano's, and Trader Joe's and it's still edible. The pantry volunteers told they keep these donations in below freezing coolers where it can maintain the freshness of many of these foods for up to weeks. When we go and take this from pantries, different products have different days of life we can still eat them and some can last up to two weeks at most.
What was not surprising in this article is the fact that the United States throws out about $160 billion worth of food out each year. That's more than enough money to buy enough food for third world countries! This is pitiful and shameful to hear. Many times I think people and supermarkets throw out food when they see a soft spot on an apple or an eggplant being way too soft in one area. This is really bull crap and it's not going to kill you if you eat it. If veggies and things feel soft in a supermarket, they could give it to their salad department and cut what they can use to make a good salad or sample it out. Not everything has to be thrown out so recklessly.
I only hope that more countries will start enforcing these laws and put things in order and on track soon.
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