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40% of US Food Goes to Waste

Average family of 4 tosses $2,300 worth per year, says NRDC study
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2012 5:49 PM CDT
Updated Aug 21, 2012 6:20 PM CDT
40% of US Food Goes to Waste
Customers select produce at a supermarket in Chicago in this file photo.   (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The LA Times takes note of a study on American food from the Natural Resources Defense Council with some eye-popping facts and figures on waste:

  • About 40% of food in the US supply chain goes uneaten
  • A family of four tosses $2,275 worth of food each year, which translates into 20 pounds per person each month
  • Americans waste 50% more food today than in the 1970s, and 10 times as much as people in Southeast Asia
  • Supermarket produce aisles are bountiful at a cost: Some $15 billion in fruits and vegetables goes unsold each year
  • Uneaten food is the single biggest component of municipal solid waste in landfills
Read the full study here. (More food stories.)

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