U.S. throws away half of all food produce

Transcription

1 U.S. throws away half of all food produce By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff on Word Count 856 Workers harvest cabbage at a farm on Feb. 4, 2016, near Zellwood, Florida. Photo: Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS Americans throw away almost as much food as they eat because of their focus on perfect produce. The waste deepens hunger and poverty and takes a toll on the environment. Huge quantities of fresh produce in the United States are left in the field to rot, fed to livestock or hauled from the field to a landfill. These food items are wasted because they don't look perfect, according to information and interviews with farmers, truckers and officials. What happens in our business today is that it is either perfect, or it gets rejected, said Jay Johnson. He ships fresh fruit and vegetables from North Carolina and central Florida. Produce is also lost in fields, warehouses, packaging, supermarkets, restaurants and refrigerators. By one government tally, more than 66 million tons of produce worth about $160 billion is wasted by stores and consumers every year. That is one-third of all food.

2 Vegetables Abandoned, Left To Rot In A Warehouse Those interviewed described additional waste: scarred vegetables abandoned in the field to save farmers the expense of harvesting them, or left to rot in a warehouse because of minor flaws. When added to the store waste, close to half of all produce grown is lost, experts say. I would say at times there is 25 percent of the crop that is just thrown away or fed to cattle, said Wayde Kirschenman. His family has been growing vegetables near Bakersfield, California, since the 1930s. Sometimes it can be worse. Sunburned or darker-hued cauliflower was plowed over in the field. Entire crates of precut orange wedges were sent to a landfill. In June, Kirschenman wound up feeding a significant share of his watermelon crop to cows. Researchers acknowledge there is no clear accounting of food loss in the U.S. Imperfect Produce is a delivery service for ugly food in the San Francisco Bay Area. It estimates that one-fifth of all fruit and vegetables are thrown out because of flaws. Farmers, including Kirschenman, put the rejection rate far higher. This Waste Has A Value Of About $1 Trillion Globally, nearly 1.8 billion tons of produce a year is wasted. This waste has a value of about $1 trillion. The Obama administration and the United Nations have pledged to cut food waste in half by Food producers, store chains and groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council have also vowed to reduce waste. Food experts say it is difficult for governments to fight hunger or climate change without reducing food waste. There are a lot of people who are hungry and malnourished, including in the U.S. My guess is probably 5 to 10 percent of the population are still hungry, said Shenggen Fan, who heads the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C. That is why food waste... matters a great deal. That is not counting the waste of water and land, or the toll on the climate. Within the United States, discarded food is the biggest single item in landfills and incinerators, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Food dumps are a rising source of methane, a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Perfect Except For Brown Gashes On The Rind The May harvest season in Florida found Johnson with 24,250 pounds of spaghetti squash. They were perfect except for brown gashes on the rind from a spring storm.

3 I ve been offering it for 6 cents a pound for a week, he said. There is a lot of hunger and starvation in the United States, so how come I haven t been able to find a home for this 6- cents-a-pound food yet? Giant chain stores often argue that they are operating in customers interests. Roni Neff, the director of a food conservation program at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future in Baltimore, said a great deal of the waste is happening based on the idea of what consumers want. Fruit and vegetables are often culled out because they think nobody would buy them, she said. However, Roger Gordon, who founded the Food Cowboy startup to rescue rejected produce, believes that waste is built into how food is produced and sold. Fresh produce accounts for 15 percent of supermarket profits, he said. Gordon added that if fresh produce waste were reduced by 50 percent, supermarkets' profits would drop. If we were to lose 50 percent of consumer waste, then we would lose about $250 billion in economic activity," he said. Produce Rejected On Flimsy Grounds Some U.S. supermarket chains and industry groups are starting ugly produce sections. Others are campaigning to reduce losses. However, producers and distributors claimed that some large stores were still rejecting produce unfairly. Farmers and truckers said they had seen their produce rejected on flimsy grounds. They said they didn't challenge stores' decisions through the government s dispute process, though, for fear of being boycotted by giant supermarket chains. They asked that their names not be used. The owner of a trucking company said a retailer turned down his "gorgeous" products because sales had been slow, not because of any flaws. He said he was usually able to sell the produce to another buyer.

4 Quiz 1 Which section of the article highlights the idea that food waste is related to hunger and environmental problems? "Vegetables Abandoned, Left To Rot In A Warehouse" "This Waste Has A Value Of About $1 Trillion" "Perfect Except For Brown Gashes On The Rind" "Produce Rejected On Flimsy Grounds" 2 Which detail BEST explains a cause of food waste in the United States? American consumers prefer produce that looks perfect. Stores and consumers waste $160 billion of food every year. Farmers will plow over dark colored cauliflower. Food waste contributes to the release of greenhouse gasses. 3 Why does the author include the paragraphs in the section "Produce Rejected On Flimsy Grounds"? to show that farmers and truckers are afraid to speak out about the problem of food waste to show that most supermarket chains are combating food waste by accepting ugly produce to show the role that truckers and farmers play in the food waste problem in the United States to show that many supermarkets contribute to the problem of food waste in the United States

5 4 Read the following paragraph from the section Vegetables Abandoned, Left To Rot In A Warehouse. Sunburned or darker-hued cauliflower was plowed over in the field. Entire crates of pre-cut orange wedges were sent to a landfill. In June, Kirschenman wound up feeding a significant share of his watermelon crop to cows. How does this paragraph generate interest in the topic of food waste? It helps the reader to visualize the problem of food waste. It explains how farmers dispose of unwanted produce. It describes how food waste affects farm animals. It explains exactly how much food is wasted in the United States

6 Answer Key 1 Which section of the article highlights the idea that food waste is related to hunger and environmental problems? "Vegetables Abandoned, Left To Rot In A Warehouse" "This Waste Has A Value Of About $1 Trillion" "Perfect Except For Brown Gashes On The Rind" "Produce Rejected On Flimsy Grounds" 2 Which detail BEST explains a cause of food waste in the United States? American consumers prefer produce that looks perfect. Stores and consumers waste $160 billion of food every year. Farmers will plow over dark colored cauliflower. Food waste contributes to the release of greenhouse gasses. 3 Why does the author include the paragraphs in the section "Produce Rejected On Flimsy Grounds"? to show that farmers and truckers are afraid to speak out about the problem of food waste to show that most supermarket chains are combating food waste by accepting ugly produce to show the role that truckers and farmers play in the food waste problem in the United States to show that many supermarkets contribute to the problem of food waste in the United States

7 4 Read the following paragraph from the section Vegetables Abandoned, Left To Rot In A Warehouse. Sunburned or darker-hued cauliflower was plowed over in the field. Entire crates of pre-cut orange wedges were sent to a landfill. In June, Kirschenman wound up feeding a significant share of his watermelon crop to cows. How does this paragraph generate interest in the topic of food waste? It helps the reader to visualize the problem of food waste. It explains how farmers dispose of unwanted produce. It describes how food waste affects farm animals. It explains exactly how much food is wasted in the United States