3 One Full Fridges and Family Sized Foods Did your parents ever tell you not to waste food because people in other countries are starving Well people in your own class could be hungry too Food insecurity affects approximately 13 million kids in the United States that's 1 in 6. In Canada it's 1 in 6 as well which means that 1 kid on your hockey team's starting lineup doesn't have enough to eat To put it another way in a classroom of 24 4 children might not have eaten breakfast on any given day Around the world 1 in 9 doesn't have enough food Yet when you throw out the bruised apple in your lunch bag or don't feel like eating your dad's leftover meatloaf it's hard to see how your food waste affects others After all it's not like someone else is going to eat what you don't want But the idea that it's okay to waste food is something we need to decide is unacceptable Right now many of us don't think too much about this issue at all And that has to change Many of us don't finish our food and are quick to toss out anything we don't want to eat TETRA IMAGES GETTY IMAGES
SUGAR In one month a family of four wastes Processed Fruit and Vegetables 10.5 lbs 4.7 kg Fresh Fruit and Vegetables 24 lbs 10.8 kg Other 12.8 lbs 5.8 kg Fluid Milk 22 lbs 9.9 kg Fats and Oils 8.60 lbs 3.9 kg Grains 18.5 lbs 8.3 kg Sweeteners 15 lbs 6.8 kg Meat and Fish 10.4 lbs 4.7 kg DATA SOURCE NEW YORK TIMES
waste Apple peels are delicious but we still waste a lot in our own kitchens PAUL MANSFIELD PHOTOGRAPHY GETTY IMAGES Too Much Food Is Tossed Away Think of all the food the world produces as a pie a big delicious apple pie Now cut it into three huge slices and throw one out That’s how much of the world’s food we waste In wealthier parts of the world like North America and Europe you’d have to throw away an even bigger piece of that apple pie How is this possible Some of the food we grow stays on farms or on our trees because it isn’t picked Some is rejected by grocery stores because it’s misshapen Some is wasted at restaurants because portion sizes are too big and people can’t finish what they order But the largest cause of food waste might surprise you It’s us Families waste more than grocery stores and restaurants combined How Much Is Too Much One study looked at food habits in the United States Canada Australia and New Zealand Here’s milk meat 20 percent 22 percent grain products 38 percent what people in this group of countries fruits and vegetables countries waste at home seafood 48 percent 50 percent DATA SOURCE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION 2011 5
