What is Digg?Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate.332 Comments
- inactive, on 05/19/2008, -3/+303This is slightly misleading.
It statistics are based on "retailers, food service businesses, AND consumers" - which is how they came to the 1 pound of "wasted food" per day.
I know for a fact that grocery stores, restaurants, and cafeterias can each throw away a hell of a lot more food in a day than a single person can in a month.
When I worked at a grocery store deli during high school we would throw away cases of food every night if we didn't sell it.
I hate misleading titles. - spammishking, on 05/19/2008, -8/+132I wish I could afford throwing that much food out. I did find it funny that we throw out 24 pounds of fruit and vegetables, and don't throw out any doughnuts.
- GoKings, on 05/19/2008, -5/+61Buried for misleading title... This isn't just families, and therefore the numbers are incredibly skewed. Interesting chart though.
- TheCash, on 05/19/2008, -4/+51I wish I could afford that much food, period. I had to start my own garden outside my living room window just to add some produce to my Top Ramen diet but hey, thats college for ya. I can't really bitch about what others' needlessly throw out because I am writing this on a desk I found on the curb a few blocks away :-D
Something that *does* annoy the hell out of me are people (usually women, but not exclusively) who order huge amounts of food at the restaurant I work at, have a few bites, and then won't let me talk them into putting it into a box for them to take home. This lady last week actually told me "oh I'd feel horrible about wasting that styrofoam container." Jesus Christ. - dojonz, on 05/19/2008, -2/+45The chicken is burnt, no wonder they threw it away.
- m00nmaster, on 05/19/2008, -1/+41Rebecca: Are you the ones leaving the muffing pieces behind our shelter?
Elaine: You been enjoying them?
Rebecca: They're just stumps.
Elaine: Well they're perfectly edible.
Rebecca: Oh, so you just assume that the homeless will eat them, they'll eat anything?
Mr. Lippman: No no, we just thought...
Rebecca: I know what you thought. They don't have homes, they don't have jobs, what do they need the top of a muffin for? They're lucky to get the stumps.
Elaine: If the homeless don't like them the homeless don't have to eat them.
Rebecca: The homeless don't like them.
Elaine: Fine.
Rebecca: We've never gotten so many complaints. Every two minutes, "Where is the top of this muffin? Who ate the rest of this?"
Elaine: We were just trying to help.
Rebecca: Why don't you just drop off some chicken skins and lobster shells.
Elaine: I think I might. - BohicaTwentyTwo, on 05/19/2008, -3/+37Buried as inaccurate. This is food thrown out by "US Retailers, food service businesses and consumers." Do you seriously think a family of four throws out 22 pounds of milk a month?
- db0255, on 05/19/2008, -0/+33Agreed. When I worked at a bagel shop we threw out 100 bagels at the end of the day sometimes. The problem is nobody wants to take the time to transfer the food to a homeless shelter or where it's really in need.
- StatiK69, on 05/19/2008, -5/+37Please note, NO ramen noodles are wasted. None!
- degron, on 05/19/2008, -1/+32I could see throwing out the fruits, but who the hell is throwing away that bacon??!?
- domfosnz, on 05/19/2008, -14/+44Is this the food crisis everyones talking about???
That is simply disgusting. - tcorlen, on 05/19/2008, -1/+30The food I throw out doesn't look like the food in the picture.
- makbryan2, on 05/19/2008, -1/+29This is ridiculous- if they showed what the actual thrown out food looked like, nobody would think anything of this.
- inactive, on 05/19/2008, -0/+28This isn't an American only practice, everyone throws food away, Canadians, Europeans, and the rest of the industrialized world does as well.
The biggest source of this isn't consumers it's restaurants and retailers. It's not because of arrogance and waste either. It's food safety laws and the fact that consumers demand for quality for what they are paying. The process food has expiration dates for a reason.While many cities have programs which distribute leftover food from restaurants and produce and other fresh items that doesn't look good enough to sell from grocers, not every city does either because of local laws or economics prevent it. - BufordT, on 05/19/2008, -3/+29Buried as inaccurate, no one knowingly throws away bacon.
- ferreth, on 05/19/2008, -6/+31I can understand throwing some food away once in a while. Plans change, you forget about something, etc, but 122lbs on average?!! I would be surprised if I throw away 5lbs a month, even counting vegetable bits I'm not fond of. It makes you think about how much other waste Americans must produce as well - throwing out perfectly good clothes, furniture, etc.
- TheCash, on 05/19/2008, -1/+25Was it in quotes?
- wrathchilde, on 05/19/2008, -1/+24The graphic clearly states that this is waste produced BEFORE these products reach consumers. Certainly all post-expiration date stuff. In the restaurant I worked we sent all that stuff to animal farms, as do many many supermarkets, at least the fruit an veggies stuff.
Don't get me wrong, that is a huge andappallng waste, but it is not "families" throwing out perfectly good food as the misleading and hyperbolic headline would imply.
Oh, and plese post the articles, not just the graphics. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/weekinreview/18m ... - anogenic, on 05/19/2008, -1/+23Stores & restaurants are the real problem. In my country one of the largest grocery chains sells the food which is going to be thrown away at half price at the end of the day. I think this is a great move for both the environment and people who cant always afford the food they want, this should be done everywhere.
- rossinio, on 05/19/2008, -0/+21Damn it, I was saving that bacon!!
- WoundedCow, on 05/19/2008, -1/+21Not with two teenage boys!...hell, even the cockroaches and ants can't find scraps after my boys are through.
- Kronos6948, on 05/19/2008, -0/+19I worked for Whole Foods a couple of years ago. They donated so much of their food to local food banks, that the food banks refused to take more. Whole Foods still had a ton of food they threw out.
Thing that pissed me off though is that if the employees wanted to take it home, they couldn't unless they paid full price. - westlawn, on 05/19/2008, -3/+21Slightly misleading??? This is an outright lie.
- chanop, on 05/19/2008, -2/+19You, my friend, are rude
- citydragon, on 05/19/2008, -0/+17TBH I can personally barely afford enough to eat, never mind throw away.
- orlyfactor, on 05/19/2008, -2/+18Doughnuts are much tastier than veggies...duh.
- tehbored, on 05/19/2008, -0/+16Yeah, salt wasn't even a category.
- wiirdo, on 05/19/2008, -0/+15Oh i get it...Florida wastes cheese, Maine wastes milk, and Californians are big wasters of Rotisserie chicken.
- Dumbledorito, on 05/19/2008, -0/+15The Panera Bread Company chain sends its leftovers to homeless shelters.
And while I don't doubt that someone would eat the leavings, I worked at Hardee's back in the day, and a lot of our food became inedible rather quickly after closing (the biscuits from breakfast were hockey pucks by about noon, and the burgers in the warming bin would have to have the buns washed off of them). - Envark, on 05/19/2008, -0/+14How is consuming more than necessary (i.e. finishing all your meals, regardless of hunger) any better than throwing away food?
- Cglass, on 05/19/2008, -0/+14I didn't see it anywhere else so let me just point out....businesses and consumers IN 1995....
1 9 9 5
Seriously? - WilliamDavis, on 05/19/2008, -0/+13Well, I'm not going to throw away the solid milk.
- FizzanoMatrix, on 05/19/2008, -1/+14Where are these facts from, JimBelushi.edu
- DeadMeatUK, on 05/19/2008, -16/+29It's about the finite resources to grow, make , package and transport the original produce and the resulting waste. It's wasting them.
See past the end of your nose (or out of your SUV) - kosibar, on 05/19/2008, -0/+13Remember, this is retailers, food service businesses, and consumers. If the average consumer throws out 5 pounds then the retailers and food service businesses throw out 117 lbs.
They didn't say how they collected their statistics. What counts as edible food?
Most food which is newly expired is still perfectly edible. Is that counted as waste? Retailers and food service businesses probably throw out a lot of food because of expiration dates.
How many restaurants throw out parts of food that are perfectly edible but not desirable? An apple peel, for example, is edible. If a restaurant peels its apples to use in a recipe, is the peel counted as wasted food? The fat that is trimmed off a piece of meat is edible but thrown out, is that counted?
This seems like a lot of food but the image may be misleading us. They may not be throwing out 122 pounds of whole cooked chickens, packages of bacon, boxes of cereal, etc. This may or may not be better, but it is certainly a different level of wastefulness. - AussieJames, on 05/19/2008, -2/+14I work at a large restaurant chain and I am still shocked at all the food we just throw away. It is simply appalling and a huge waste of resources and I swear sometimes I wish I could just defy my managers and just take the food home where it would be put to use.
- SeaweedWater, on 05/19/2008, -7/+19She called you Jesus Christ?
- inactive, on 05/19/2008, -1/+13Man, the 'bury as inaccurate' button sure has been getting a workout this week.
- GRANDPAMUNSTER, on 06/11/2009, -0/+12Do it !!!
- webtweakers, on 05/19/2008, -0/+12Yes, why exactly couldn't you?
- Tunguska, on 05/19/2008, -3/+14At least they aren't eating it, because that would be another story in itself.
- kund57, on 05/19/2008, -0/+10The main point of this is that not everyone is doing this, notice the word AVERAGE. This article is not focusing solely on American individuals. The huge numbers come from companies not the American citizen. I used to work in a grocery store where if any package had a tear in it, it was thrown away. Stop blaming Americans for your problems. I hate being an American right now because of the image other people have portrayed me to be. But seriously you are believing every single American wastes this much? Every American basher on this thread sounds just as ignorant and stupid as you portray Americans to be.
- defsyfe, on 05/19/2008, -0/+10You seemed to have missed the part where it said retailers. Most retailers DO throw away food in this method trust me. I once worked for seven eleven and after 1 day we'd through away sandwhiches. Every night I threw away about two hot dogs, three brats, three sasuages, about ten to fifteen sandwhiches....
- diadem2, on 05/19/2008, -2/+12It's not a question of quantity, it's a question of logistics. Even if this food wasn't thrown away, how could it get to the people who need it; either outside this country or in it?
Waste and starvation are two seperate issues. It's entirely possible to keep that waste and still feed the poor. Likewise, not enjoying life becuase other people aren't enjoying life won't help anyone either.
The only reason to be pissed at people wasitng in this case is jealosy. - blast_flame, on 05/19/2008, -1/+10So your argument is that the price of freedom is giving up freedom? Nice doublespeak there...
- eroticpie, on 05/19/2008, -2/+11I don't think it would be much different in any other industrialized nation (european countries, austrailia, canada, etc.)
- ahawks, on 05/19/2008, -5/+13Yes, you're free (legally) to buy anything you can afford and throw it away. Does that make it smart? No. That makes you a ***** moron.
This isn't about what you can do, it's about making smarter choices. - matthewf01, on 05/19/2008, -0/+8Maybe he's quoting jesus christ?
- blast_flame, on 05/19/2008, -1/+9Forcing someone to do anything, even be responsible as you were subtly suggesting, is giving up freedom.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 333 discussions
Browsing Digg on your phone just got easier with our enhancements to the 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is