The Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture estimated that, in 2010, America wasted between 30 and 40 percent of its food supply. The USDA estimated that food wasted by consumers and retail entities accounted for 31 percent, and calculated that the loss was of 133 billion pounds, worth nearly $162 billion.
30-40% seems kind of high, but if it's true then that is obscene. To me, it makes a difference of what's actually being wasted. Are we talking about a couple of spoonfuls of vegetables with a stale dinner roll or leftover grilled steaks? The vegetables seem like the lesser of two evils and you'd almost think it has to be something along those lines to be 40% because let's be honest - if we're talking grilled steak, you pretty much know that's going to get eaten the next day, but if it's leftover peas and carrots; is anyone besides a vegan or vegetarian really going to get excited about seeing that in the fridge the next day?
I never worked in a restaurant but people who have worked in the kitchens have told me the amount of food they throw away is enormous. One time a friend of mine who worked in a restaurant called me and told me to come to the back of the restaurant by the dumpster. He had put several boxes of boiled crabs behind the dumpster instead of in the dumpster like he was supposed to. I got enough to fill up 2 larges ice chests. The crabs had been boiled that morning for the lunch crowd and when lunch was over they just throw the unordered food away. I doubt that there is much steak that is cooked that hasn't been ordered but lots of people order steaks and other top of the line menu items and only eat a small portion. @stevescookin could probably tell you how much but it would amaze you.
There's not that much food wasted in my restaurant. I'd quickly go out of business...so would almost anyone.I bet that figure includes what people leave on their plates unbeaten. Now, grocery stores have a big problem with that kind of waste. They try to minimize that loss by cooking food about to spoil to sell. Don't think for a minute that the lunches you get at grocery stores are made with fresh meats and seafood.
You want to talk about waste visit a military chow hall. Here is what doesn't make sense. You have a chow hall that services a unit and they know exactly how many people are in that unit. Especially the ones that have no choice but to eat there or they do not eat. Yet at the end of every meal they are chucking enough food into the slop dumpster to feed a village of homeless folks. Why don't they just donate that to the shelters you might ask? Good question, because they are on contract to provide the "slop" to the local pig farmers. Makes me wonder if they are over preparing food just to keep the contract with the pig farmers because there was always WAY too much food, like a lot.
On June 26th, 1944, at Polo Fields in New York City, the only three-team round-robin game ever played took place. It was coined the "Tri-Cornered Baseball Game" by sports writers and was carried out in support of the Allied Forces in WWII. It worked like this, each team would play in the field and bat two consecutive innings and then sit for an inning until they played a total of six innings. The structure of the game was so complicated that a Colombia University math professor, Paul A Smith, was brought in to structure the game and to help official scorers to keep track of what was happening during the game. Even though players had been thinned out by war time conscription and volunteerism, organizers were able to rustle up future Hall of Famers like Paul Waner, Joe Medwick and Ernie Lombardi. Other notables included Ralph Branca, Eddie Stanky, Dixie Walker and Snuffy Stirnweiss. Leo Durocher managed the Dodgers, Joe McCarthy helmed the Yankees, and Mel Ott was in the dugout for the host Giants (Durocher and McCarthy, it should be noted, managed the game from opposite wings of the same bench). Even legendary umpire Jocko Conlan and his perfect baseball name were on hand. Final score: Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, Giants 0. However, the real winner was the war effort, which netted more than $56,000,000 in bond purchases. More Info: www.cbssports.com
