16. Staggering amounts of food are wasted in America annually
Over the past seven decades, despite the efficiency of the food production and distribution chain, food waste rose annually. In the early 21st century, estimates from diverse organizations claimed up to 50% of produce grown in the United States never makes it to the table. It is thrown away by grocery stores, restaurants, and consumers, having lasted beyond its shelf life. Much of it, even that grown in private gardens, is never harvested. The proliferation of “use by dates” added to the amount of food wasted, though they are intended to indicate peak freshness, rather than a definite time for the food to be used or thrown out.
Nearly all of the waste occurs at the consumer end of the chain. Producers and distributors operating on thin profit margins developed means of recycling waste products, into animal feed, fertilizers, biofuels, and other products. In 2010, the USDA released a statement which estimated up to 40% of the total food supply was wasted, at a cost of $161 billion. Wastage continued to rise each year in the following decade. That same year 133 billion pounds of food in all forms were destroyed as waste, much of it in the form of fresh produce, milk, and meats. The estimate did not include food served at tables which simply wasn’t consumed, and ended up in the trash, nor leftovers which remained in refrigerators for a time before being relegated to the garbage can.