The U.S. is the land of plenty for most of its residents. In terms of the food supply, one does not hear of people starving to death, as occurs in some third world countries. In fact, America and Americans discard more food every year than any other country. That is a scandal in of itself. But even worse is the fact that nearly 13% of U.S. households were food insecure in 2022.
While the world wastes about 2.5 billion metric tons (mt) of food every year, the U.S. discards nearly 60 million mt, or 120 billion pounds, every year. That’s estimated to be almost 40% of the entire U.S. food supply and equates to 325 lbs. of waste per person. That’s like every person in America throwing 975 average-sized apples into the garbage, or rather, into landfills, as most discarded food ends up there. In fact, food is the single largest component taking up space inside U.S. landfills, making up 22% of municipal solid waste. All told, the amount of food wasted in America has an approximate value of nearly $218 billion, the equivalent of 130 billion meals.
Yet it is estimated that nearly 35 million people across America, including 10 million children, suffer from food insecurity. In 2022, 87.2% of U.S. households were food secure. The remaining 12.8% (17 million households) were food insecure, according to a new report by USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS). Food-insecure households (those with low and very low food security) had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members because of a lack of resources. The 2022 prevalence of food insecurity was statistically significantly higher than the 10.2% recorded in 2021 (13.5 million households) and the 10.5% in 2020 (13.8 million households), says ERS.
In 2022, 5.1% of U.S. households (6.8 million households) had very low food security, says ERS. This was statistically significantly higher than the 3.8% (5.1 million households) in 2021 and the 3.9% (5.1 million households) in 2020. In this more severe range of food insecurity, the food intake of some household members was reduced, and normal eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because of limited resources. Children were food insecure at times during 2022 in 8.8% of U.S. households with children (3.3 million households), up from both 6.2% (2.3 million households) in 2021 and 7.6% (2.9 million households) in 2020. These households with food insecurity among children were unable at times to provide adequate, nutritious food for their children, says ERS.
Children are usually shielded from the disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake that characterize very low food security, says ERS. However, in 2022, children and adults both suffered instances of very low food security in 1% of households with children (381,000 households), statistically significantly higher than the 0.7% (274,000 households) in 2021. These households with very low food security among children reported that children were hungry, skipped a meal or did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough money for food, says ERS.
The prevalence of both food insecurity and very low food security increased from 2021 to 2022 for nearly all subgroups of households described in its report, says ERS. The typical (median) food-secure household spent 15% more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and composition. These estimates include food purchases made with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) benefits. About 55% of food-insecure households in the ERS survey reported that in the previous month, they participated in one or more of the three largest Federal nutrition assistance programs, says ERS.
With so many people suffering and in need of basic amounts of food, why do Americans waste so much of their food abundance, asks another report. Getting to the bottom of what causes food waste in America is a challenge that traverses the complex landscapes of socio-economic disparities, confusion and ingrained beliefs, layered with human behaviors and habits, it says.
Food spoilage, whether real or perceived, is one of the biggest reasons people throw out food. More than 80% of Americans discard perfectly good, consumable food simply because they misunderstand expiration labels, says the report. Labels like “sell by,” “use by,” “expires on,” “best before” or “best by” are confusing to people, and in an effort to not risk the potential of a foodborne illness, they’ll toss it in the garbage.
The beef industry suffers its share of food spoilage. The industry has long operated on the old adage of “sell it or smell it”. However, decades of packaging improvements—think case-ready – have helped reduce wastage of red meat and poultry. But the industry can and should do more to educate Americans about recognizing when a meat product is still safe to consume. — Steve Kay
(Steve Kay is editor/publisher of Cattle Buyers Weekly, an industry newsletter published at P.O. Box 2533, Petaluma, CA, 94953; 707-765-1725. Kay’s Korner appears exclusively in WLJ.)
