USA – Americans waste 14% of food they purchase

This piece from The Arizona Republic elaborates a reference we made a few months ago to the interesting work of Professor Jones from the University of Arizona.



By pawing through people‘‘s garbage, professional dumpster diver Timothy W. Jones has concluded that Americans have no respect for the food they eat. Many subsist on convenience foods, and 14 percent of the food people buy winds up in the trash.



Jones, a professor at the University of Arizona, contends that this dysfunctional relationship with food costs the U.S. economy US$200 billion a year in waste and health-care costs. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the annual cost of treating obesity in the United States is US$100 billion. Another US$100 billion worth of edible food is thrown out or unharvested. advertisement



Jones is one of a handful of "contemporary archaeologists" worldwide who study present-day cultures by examining their trash.



"People look at (food) as a commodity or a product to be consumed and not something that nourishes and sustains our bodies," he said.



A breakthrough study by Jones and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2003 estimated that more than 50 million tons of edible food is wasted in the United States each year. The study looked at farming, retail establishments and homes. It found that:



Twelve percent of American crops, valued at US$20 billion, go unharvested due to difficulty in predicting demand. Retailers, including restaurants, throw away 35 million tons of food a year, valued at US$30 billion. Households dump US$43 billion worth of food a year, or about 14 percent of what they buy. That doesn‘‘t include plate scrapings.



Jones has proposed a network of government "food centers." Such centers would teach basic nutrition and food preparation to consumers and provide farmers with more detailed market information to reduce crop loss. The centers also could coordinate food relief efforts in emergencies. In August, Jones outlined his proposal for the Arizona Food Center to members of Arizona‘‘s Joint Legislative Committee on Hunger. The legislators agreed to pursue the concept, but made no commitment for the US$500,000 a year that Jones said it would take to operate the center.



"If we educate kids, they will be better consumers and they will have better nutrition their whole lives," said Rep. Pete Hershberger, R-Tucson, co-chairman of the committee.



Jones said that a 25 percent reduction in obesity and food waste could pump US$50 billion a year into the U.S. economy. While the amount is small compared with the annual U.S. gross domestic product of US$11.7 trillion, it is significant. Tracy Clark, associate director of the Bank One Economic Outlook Center at Arizona State University, pointed out that savings in food costs would be more significant to lower-income households.



Jones found that consumers believe they are healthier and more frugal than they are. He found that American households throw away 1.28 pounds of food a day, not including scraps that go down the garbage disposer or into the compost pile. Vegetables make up 27 percent of the food trash. Packaged foods in their original containers and with valid expiration dates constituted 14 percent. Hispanic households are more frugal and throw away 25 percent less food than non-Hispanics, Jones found. Jones says that people often buy fresh vegetables because they think they are eating healthfully. But many then go home, pop a frozen pizza in the oven and eventually throw the vegetables out.



Ellie Mulkern, a Phoenix mother of three, says she wants to prepare healthful meals for her family, but rarely has the time. So she turns to prepared foods. She says she regularly throws out fresh foods she never got around to preparing. "It‘‘s hard to find the time to prep