In this week’s Field Report: A push to improve federal food purchasing heats up, the first food-focused COP kicks off, dust storms accelerate, and new evidence suggests that fair-trade certifications are failing to protect farmworkers.
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August 19, 2008
Food waste is everywhere you look (and it’s still there if you choose not to). Farmers decide to leave entire fields unharvested when the prices are unfavorable. Supermarkets toss produce that’s the wrong shape or slightly bruised. Diners leave behind half-eaten entrees. There’s probably wasted food lurking somewhere in your fridge.
Given that our food chain is heavy on long-distance shipping, pretty produce, prepared foods and cautious “sell-by” dates, it’s difficult to make a dent in the problem.
Or is it? Food rescue does not involve men or women in capes, just volunteers dedicated to repurposing food that would otherwise go to waste. The recovered goods—prepared or not—are distributed to those in need.
Food rescue, sometimes called “food recovery,” occurs where waste does—supermarkets, restaurants, school and office cafeterias. These operations set aside the food that is edible but not 
sellable for food rescue workers to collect. In addition, food recovery groups retrieve excess crops from farms, bulk orders gone awry and excess event food from events and conferences.
Which brings us to Slow Food Nation. There’s good news here: Leftovers from Slow Food Nation events will be recovered by the San Francisco non-profit Food Runners. The group will call on its volunteers to collect items that have been prepared but not served at the opening night dinner on Thursday (8/28) and at the Taste Pavilions, Friday through Sunday.
No discussion of food recovery would be complete without mentioning its obstacles. Potential donors often list fears of lawsuits as the main objection to donating prepared food. What these folks fail to realize is that: 1. The vast majority of food recovery volunteers are trained in food safety. 2. The Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects donors from liability when food is donated in good faith.
That fear of liability means that many hotels and caterers don’t even allow party hosts to take home the food that they bought. As a result, California Senator Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) introduced a bill this year that would make donations from catered events much easier.
Senate Bill 1443 would require every contract for food service to give purchasers the choice of mandating that the leftovers are donated. Oropeza held a press conference last Friday in Los Angeles at the Venice Center for Peace with Justice and the Arts to promote the bill, which has already passed the California Senate and will soon face a vote in the State Assembly.
“As you can see, and as many have tasted, there is nothing wrong with this food,” Oropeza told those at the event. “Except that millions of tons of edible food like this are thrown away annually in California.”
According to California E.P.A., it’s 6 million tons each year. There’s plenty of room for improvement. How about it, California?
Photos by Neogene, Jonathan Bloom and feastoffools
November 29, 2023
In this week’s Field Report: A push to improve federal food purchasing heats up, the first food-focused COP kicks off, dust storms accelerate, and new evidence suggests that fair-trade certifications are failing to protect farmworkers.
November 28, 2023
November 28, 2023
November 21, 2023
Nowadays, I usually have my leftovers from a restaurant boxed, and sometimes I pass them on to someone asking for change (unless I reeaally want to eat the rest later).
Compost!!
In today’s world we take for granted the refrigerator cooling our groceries 24/7 and when we turn off the lights in our homes and businesses, and lock the door for the evening, one of the things which will continue to use power around the clock is our refrigerators and freezers.
New energy saving technologies, are being launched every day, but who can afford some of these technologies which we are being offered, or how difficult are they to install. And how long will it take for me to get my money back in energy savings, big questions.
Refrigeratorsaver is the simplest, most effective, and inexpensive energy saving device for refrigeration.
Invented in the UK by two highly recognized Harry Banham & Guy Lamstaes, who have both recent been listed in the Guardian Observer in the top (50) people who could save the planet,
The Refrigeratorsaver is a silicone gel based thermometer that reads the exact product temperature rather than the air temperature, most refrigerators cool produce colder than needed, and on many home refrigerators we cannot see what the produce temperature, only the reading only the air temperature reading.
This technology which won a millennium award, has no installation, you simply place the Refrigeratorsaver on the shelf, leave for (1) hour, and then you can make slight adjustments on the dial thermostat dial, or digital display in line with the product temperature.
For every one degree you are able to adjust your home or business thermostat is the equivalent to 8% in energy savings, and we have averaged 20 to 24% on most home refrigerators.
We have also found that by cooling produce at the right temperature, produce life extends by 2 to 3 days and with gas prices rising, many businesses are feeling the pinch with fuel charges being added to deliveries, this simple device makes huge saving on any businesses bottom line.
The Refrigeratorsaver is a must for all restaurants, bars, cafes, hotels, hospitals, schools, colleges, universities, and especially homes,
A few monthas later I bought my newspaper to here than the largest grocery stores in UK have now decided to start keeping there bins in fenced compounds and locking them.
That bill, should it pass needs to be introduced on our side of the pond!!