Food Waste in America Essay Example
Food Waste in America Essay Example

Food Waste in America Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
  • Pages: 2 (463 words)
  • Published: November 26, 2021
View Entire Sample
Text preview

According to statistics, the country with the highest percentage of food waste is the United States.

A recent report by UNEP and the World Resource Institute reveals that approximately one-third of global food production is lost or wasted during production and consumption processes. This amounts to roughly 25% of calories intended for consumption being left uneaten. In developed countries like America, consumers discard an astonishing amount of food every year - about the same as the entire net production of sub-Saharan Africa, which adds up to a staggering 222 million tons. This quantity is nearly half of what is wasted annually in terms of cereal crop wastage. Furthermore, the largest portion of waste found in American landfills is organic matter, which leads to harmful emissions of methane gas. As a result, this causes an annual loss of 30 to 40 units of food supply.

Met

...

hane, a powerful greenhouse gas, has a global warming potential 21 times greater than carbon dioxide. Various types of food are wasted, including grain products, seafood, fruits and vegetables, meat, and milk. Grain products have the highest amount of waste while milk suffers from the least wastage. Fruits and vegetables have the highest loss during production whereas grain products experience the lowest loss. Post-harvest statistics reveal that fruits and vegetables also have the largest percentage of wastage. In terms of industry's dispensation and filler sector, most countries encounter significant losses in grain products while milk encounters minimal losses due to lower human consumption.

A study conducted by the economic research service indicates that one of the main factors contributing to food loss in the market chain is consumer and foodservice food waste. The video

View entire sample
Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

focuses primarily on these researchers. Food waste that is disposed of in landfills contributes to methane production, thereby increasing overall food loss. Fresh produce is especially vulnerable to loss during farming, distribution, production, post-harvesting, and retail processes. The harmful consequences of food waste differ depending on where it is discarded and can give rise to health pandemics.

Food waste has a detrimental effect on the country's economy. This is due to the inability to repurpose wasted food, leading to decreased prices even when recycling is attempted. The issue is exacerbated by excessive production of specific goods, particularly perishable fruits and vegetables that face difficulties in competing within the market. Nevertheless, certain food waste can still be utilized for animal consumption or composted to enhance soil fertility using natural fertilizer. To effectively and universally tackle this problem, the film advocates for recycling as the primary method of managing food waste since recycled food can serve other purposes apart from human consumption.

Despite the country's long-standing problem of high food waste, I have realized that there is an opportunity for profit through recycling and discovering alternative uses for this waste.

Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New