Food waste effort depends on help of American consumer

How much do you spend on food in a month?

$100? $200? $500?

What would you think if we used the figure $390? No, not the amount you spend for food; not even the amount you eat.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that's the amount of food that was wasted, per U.S. consumer, in the average month in 2008.

America wastes between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply, an estimated 133 billion pounds of food from U.S. retail food stores, restaurants and homes that never made into people's stomachs.

It's a tragedy that such an abundance of nutrition never reaches those who need it most, whether they're American or third-world citizens.

The USDA and EPA launched the U.S. Food Waste Challenge on Tuesday, calling on producer groups, processors, manufacturers, retailers, communities and other government agencies to join in the effort to reduce, recover and recycle food waste.

"The United States enjoys the most productive and abundant food supply on earth, but too much of this food goes to waste," said Secretary Tom Vilsack in making the announcement.

"Not only could this food be going to folks who need it -- we also have an opportunity to reduce the amount of food that ends up in America's landfills. By joining together with EPA and businesses from around the country, we have an opportunity to better educate folks about the problem of food waste and begin to address this problem across the nation."

EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe noted that food waste is the single largest type of waste entering landfills.

"Addressing this issue not only helps with combating hunger and saving money, but also with combatting climate change: food in landfills decomposes to create potent greenhouse gases," he said. "With the help of partners across the country, we can ensure that our nation's food goes to our families and those in need -- not the landfill."

The USDA is cutting red tape and taking other steps to make it easier for food that would otherwise be wasted to make it where it is needed.

It is targeting waste in the school meals program, educating consumers about food waste and storage and developing new technologies to reduce food waste.

It is also working with industry to increase donations from imported produce that does not meet quality standards, streamlining procedures for donating wholesome misbranded meat and poultry products, updating U.S. food loss estimates at the retail level, and pilot-testing a meat-composting program to reduce the amount of meat being sent to landfills from food safety inspection labs.

Southwest Nebraska farmers know just how expensive it is to produce food, once fuel, fertilizer, interest payments and water are taken into account, especially the fuel and water. Seeing 30 to 40 percent of those efforts and expenses go to waste just doesn't make sense.

We've seen improvements in the way food that might otherwise go to waste is reaching hungry families through organizations like the McCook Pantry.

It's good the EPA and USDA are spearheading the effort, but it will only be effective once individual consumers do their part as well.