Americans Waste Enough Food to Eliminate Domestic Hunger
American households are wasting more food than ever. Greater than 133 billion pounds of food is tossed in garbage cans annually - three times more than needed to feed every hungry person in America. Of the food produced in the US, approximately one-third goes uneaten. This squandering of nutrition additionally wastes 350 million barrels of oil each year, taking a toll on this nation's natural resources and costing the average consumer a premium at the supermarket.
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/-- American consumers are more improvident than ever, according to numbers released in a recent study conducted by the University of Missouri-Columbia. Approximately 31 percent of all food produced in the United States is tossed in the garbage each year. This equates to 133 billion pounds of lost nutrition annually – it would take just over 53 billion to provide sustenance to every hungry person on US soil.
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There are 49.1 million Americans living in food-unstable conditions. Of these, 15.8 million are under the age of 18. Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks and childhood nutrition programs, estimates that over half of these individuals reside in single-parent households.
It takes energy in the form of natural resources to harvest and transport these foodstuffs to supermarkets, where they are stored until purchased. Food waste leads to the expenditure of approximately 350 million barrels of crude oil every year. At an average of $42 per barrel, that equates to over $14.7 billion in wasted natural resources; this on top of the $162 billion of wasted fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy products every year.
Tennessee Wholesale Nursery, LLC Vice President Tammy Sons explains that food waste isn't just an active consumer waste issue. Many local growers in her area report leaving edible food unharvested because appearance-conscious Americans simply won't buy "ugly" food. "We have to stop this nonsense," insists Sons, who believes that no one should go to bed hungry in a land where so much is, apparently, taken for granted.
Tennessee Wholesale Nursery, LLC is a family owned and operated provider of quality trees, shrubs, grasses, and berry plants. Located in a state where 17.3 percent of homes are without proper nutrition, Tennessee Wholesale Nursery wishes to help put a stop to hunger by spreading awareness and education of this national pandemic. For more information visit TNNursery.net.
SOURCE Tennessee Wholesale Nursery, LLC
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