Happy Food Day! – National Consumers League

Food day is an annual celebration of healthy, affordable and sustainable food aimed to motivate Americans to change their diets and our food policies. That’s why we’ve chosen Food Day to release a report, Wasted: Solutions to the American Food Waste Problem, examining ways retailers and consumers can minimize America’s food waste problem.

The report details the ethical, environmental and financial costs of food waste, demonstrating how far reaching and severe the problem is. In the past year, 49 million Americans were unable to consistently put food on the table, a shocking number considering some 40 percent of food in the U.S. goes uneaten.  American’s aren’t just throwing away food, they are throwing away 35 MILLION tons of food every year. This costs a family of four somewhere in the ballpark of $1,350 to $2,275 each year. When wasted food finds its final resting place in the landfill, it decomposes releasing methane, the second most common greenhouse gas with twenty times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.

Worldwide, 35 percent of food waste takes place at the consumption level, making retailers and consumers responsible for the largest portion of food waste along the supply chain. NCL’s report addresses behaviors and actions that promote waste by both retailers and consumers, providing concrete actions to minimize food waste.   We’ve assembled a “To Do List” for stakeholders with the top 10 food waste reducing behaviors.

So this Food Day take a moment to consider how you can have a positive impact on food waste through your own actions and requests made to your favorite restaurants and grocery stores. Events like the National Geographic Harvest Festival with cooking demonstrations and taste testing are happening nationwide.