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Europe tackling its 88m tonne food waste problem

April 19, 2018 05:45·
The Average American Wastes Almost One Pound Of Food Every Day

The Average American Wastes Almost One Pound Of Food Every Day

Fruit and vegetables account for 39% of all these products, followed by dairy products (17%), meat (14%) and cereals (12%).

By now, it should surprise no one that we throw away a lot of food - a lot. "And it is the most wasted food that we found in our study".

"Most existing research has looked at greenhouse gas emissions or land use and its link with different diets", says Niles, a researcher at UVM's Gund Institute for Environment and Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences.

According to the study, published today in PLOS ONE, the amount of wasted food equals roughly 30 percent of the average daily calories consumed for every American, or more than 320 million people.

The study was conducted by researchers at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, the University of Vermont and the University of New Hampshire. And throwing our food into the trash wastes the land, labor, and resources that went into producing it.

On an individual level, being aware of the issue of food waste and planning shopping and meals accordingly can make a difference, the researchers said - food for thought for when you see that next imperfect kiwi.

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Higher quality diets with large amounts of fruits and vegetables are also associated with greater amounts of food waste, wasted irrigation water and pesticides, it said.

The new research is based on a massive survey of Americans' eating habits, cross-referenced with other federal data sets and amplified by modeling tools, so as to determine how much food we waste and how much environmental input that translates into.

One limitation of the study is that the data on what people ate was self-reported, and people often underestimate how much food they eat and waste.

A study published Wednesday by USA researchers found American consumers are wasting almost a pound of food per person each day - the equivalent of four portions of chicken, four quarter-pound meat patties or a pint of blueberries. Due to their perishable nature, fruits and vegetables tend to get thrown out more often.

The study found that the healthiest Americans are the most wasteful, due to their high consumption of fruits and vegetables, which are frequently thrown out. Fruits, vegetables, and mixed fruit and vegetable dishes (a salad or fruit cocktail, for example) accounted for more than a third of all food waste.

The estimates were compiled using data collected from various USA government databases, but it doesn't come without limitations. "Looking at them holistically will become increasingly important to finding sustainable ways of meeting the needs of a growing world population", says lead author Zach Conrad at the ARS Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota. "Food waste is a critical component of environmental sustainability that, until now, has not been rigorously analyzed alongside diet quality", they concluded.

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