Food Waste Is Just As Important As Hunger

Hunger is a huge problem in not just America, but for the entire world. Before we solve hunger, we need to solve food waste. Food waste is just as important as world hunger. How can we solve hunger while still wasting food? Food waste is a huge problem and it needs to be solved immediately.

Food waste is a huge problem for America. Americans don't eat roughly 40% of its food. In other words Of 125 out 160 billion pounds of food that is wasted every year, much of it is perfectly edible and nutritious.  America throws away more than 1,250 calories per day per person, or more than 400 pounds of food per person annually. This is a total loss of up to $218 billion each year, costing a household of four an average of $1,800 annually. Additionally, restaurants, stores, and farms even waste food on a daily basis. (Gunders 4)

American households are a large portion of food waste. According to the ReFED estimate, households collectively generate the largest portions of waste, followed by restaurants and food service institutions and then farms and supermarkets. Seafood and fish products are the most heavily wasted in the product category of the ReFED estimate, on the other hand, fruits and vegetables. Major contributors of household food waste include food spoilage, over-buying, date label confusion, and over-preparing. (Gunders 10)

How could Americans solve these food waste problems?  Preventing wasted food and recovering wholesome, nutritious food can help you make a difference in your community. Here’s a few ideas I’d use: Feed people, not landfills. Instead of feeding landfills, feed people in need of food in your communities. A second choice is to create job opportunities for others. Recycling and recovering wasted food through donation, salvaging, processing, or composting creates jobs. Food recycling sector employs more than 36,000 people, supporting local communities and promoting innovation. (Sustainable Management of Food Basics)

In conclusion, Food waste in America is a pretty big deal. It stuns the growth of a solution for hunger. If we could get food waste out of the way, hunger could easily be solved. The food waste problem is essential and must be solved immediately before hunger.

Works Cited

Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to

Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf


“Sustainable Management of Food Basics | US EPA.” US EPA, 11 Aug. 2015, www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics. Accessed 23 Mar. 2022.