“Imperfect” Produce Reduces Food Wastage
By: JG
Since COVID-19, food insecurity is a problem more than ever. Due to the pandemic and shipping/travel issues, food waste is happening in mass amounts. Food waste refers to the food that is not eaten, distributed, retailed, or purchased and therefore thrown away. Food waste amounts to approximately one-third to one-half of all food produced globally. According to the Huffington Post, Americans waste around $165 Billion worth of food every year.
Throughout the years, farmers have prepared against emergencies by increasing their crops.This sometimes causes a surplus of produce and leads to a process called dumping. Dumping occurs when crops are not harvested. It can be caused by severe weather or emergency situations, such as the current pandemic. Changes in the market can also cause farms to dispose of crops and food. For example, if the price of certain produce drops in the market, it will affect the profit because the transportation and the human labor to harvest that produce will be more expensive than the selling price.
Dumping
COVID-19 caused public places, such as schools and restaurants, to close or reduce their consumption of food, leading farmers to decide to dump a major quantity of produce, such as milk. They did this to avoid taking on the cost of harvesting and transporting. Besides dumping, another reason for farms to throw away crops is cosmetic imperfections or how close it is to expiration dates.
What You Can Do!
The US Department of Agriculture has a program where the government acquires some of the surpluses of crops and donates it to foundations or people in need of food. Alongside, there is a program in which farmers might be eligible to receive aid in the construction of storage facilities for their crops. This works best for dairy products such as milk, cheeses, yogurt, eggs, etc.
A practice we can do at home to help reduce food wastage from farms is buying our produce from places such as “Imperfect foods” or Misfits Market. These two companies take “ugly” produce and surplus or excess products from local farms to help reduce food waste. Their service includes the delivery of your selected products and it is all at a lower price than a regular supermarket chain store.
If more consumers used sites like Imperfect Foods to fight food waste, distributers would have less incentive to throw away “ugly” produce. We can’t control emergencies that cause food waste like the pandemic, so start fighting food waste at home. Be mindful of your own consumption when shopping for food, and if you can, choose alternatives like Imperfect Foods in order to decrease the amount of food that goes to waste.
