On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver reveals how producers, sellers and consumers waste tons of good food every year, and we do it for ridiculous reasons. Hold on. You’re not about to be scolded for letting your membership in the Clean Plate Club lapse. Much of the waste occurs before food even reaches consumers.
While fifty million of us live in ‘food-insecure’ households, the country throws out $168 Billion dollars worth of good food. You’ll see why there is no incentive for farmers to donate the produce that is ‘imperfect’ or lying on the ground, and why supermarkets throw out good items for fear of being sued by hungry people. We see trucks filled with healthy produce bound for landfills, which in turn produce environment-heating methane gas. On the plus side, we can stop blaming the cows for all of the methane. While we’re on the topic of hot gassy air, we can point to the Senate for hijacking a bill which would have provided all of the incentive small business need to donate food, rather than to waste it.