4 ms·
The figure is echoed by the USDA. [1] The report I linked in the original post includes a breakdown of exactly where food is wasted on pages 14 to 30. [2] The
by arcticbull 4y ago
The figure is echoed by the USDA. [1]
The report I linked in the original post includes a breakdown of exactly where food is wasted on pages 14 to 30. [2]
There's a pie chart on page 10 which includes a breakdown by kind of food too, as a percentage of waste by weight.
- Dairy: 19.1%
- Vegetables: 19%
- Fruit: 13.9%
- Grain: 13.9%
- Added sugars and sweeteners: 12.6%
- Meat, fish and poultry: 11.5%
- Fats and oils: 7.5%
- Eggs: 2.1%
- Tree nuts and peanuts: 0.4%
[1] https://www.usda.gov/peoples-garden/food-access-food-waste/flw https://www.usda.gov/peoples-garden/food-access-food-waste/f...
[2] https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report....
- pfdietz 4y agoSo, yep, meat is a small % of what's wasted. I bet the percentage of meat wasted is much smaller than the % of food overall.
- arcticbull 4y agoOk but remember that that's by-weight. Energy drops by a factor of 10 for each trophic level. One pound of meat requires 2.5-3 pounds of grain and 1847 gallons of fresh water. It also requires 3 pounds of grain and 4.5 gallons of water per gallon of milk and dairy is almost 20% of the waste. The scale of this waste is mind-boggling.
- pfdietz 4y agoYes, meat is at the top of a trophic pyramid, so it reflects much more production of plants (to feed the animals). If meat is used more efficiently, then that means there's much less "waste" going on there (except the inherent inefficiency of making meat from plants, but that's not what we're talking about with that 50% figure.)