savefoodsharefood-blog

[savefoodsharefood-blog]

Last but not least..

As the current school semester is coming to an end, I would like to let you know you about the further happening of this blog, after telling you about what it’s been like for me to work on this project. The topic on food sharing i’ve been writing about, soon transformed to talking about food waste and its consequences happening not only globally, but especially here in the United States. The main reason for the change of focus was that I realized the importance of getting to the root first and trying to inform and educate people more on the reasons why and that it has been an issue for quite a while. By having stated facts, research and news articles or authorities’ remarks who are involved in that field, I tried to illustrate the immense issue that is connected with food handling- and distribution. Even though I’ve always cared and been interested in anything related to sustainability and food, after having researched more on the specific issue of food waste in the US, I ended up learning more than I imagined. Coming from Germany, which is one of the countries in Europe that encourages and promotes sustainability, recycling and food sharing/saving, it’s been shocking to see the difference between there and here and how much work in regards to public education and policy changes need to be done still.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed getting immersed into the topic of food waste and plan on creating a new but different blog sometime in the future. My future blog will be more related to food, nutrition and health (problems) itself, as that is something I am even more passionate about. I also feel like I will be more of an immediate help or support to others who have similar experiences to me, which I’d really like. Once my new blog is created, I will post the link on the blog here. Thank you for reading my posts!

[savefoodsharefood-blog]

[savefoodsharefood-blog]

Food Waste Epidemic- Why it happens, What to do and Who already succeeds in fighting it.

Suzanne Goldenberg, the US environment correspondent of the Guardian and author of the article ‘Half of all US food produce is thrown away, new research suggests’, points out that there is a large amount of food waste going on, not only in the United States, but also globally. With the focus on the US, Suzanne Goldenberg describes the public misconception and expectation of what fresh produce that’s going to be purchased needs to look like. This desire of ‘perfect produce’ is causing a chain reaction of high standards for the look of produce, putting pressure on retailers, farmers and results in the increase of food insecurity, starving families, contribution of global warming and other environmental problems. Since there are therefore certain standards for produce to be met in order to be sold to stores, farmers struggle when losing tons of edible produce just because of spots or other aesthetic reasons. Delivery services, such as ‘Imperfect Produce’ and front runners like Denmark who are trying to support the trend of eating ugly food, are some examples of what is already being done to fight waste of food, poverty and decrease the speed of climate change.

The source I chose is credible in my opinion, since there is not only a lot of information and details to it, but the author of the article is specialized in the environment and composed other major articles before. Statistics and interviews are included, as well as embedded links to outside sources that were mentioned. I agree with my chosen source since changes can be made in regards to food waste and helping fight hunger, decreasing the speeding up of environmental problems and revolutionizing aesthetic standards and expectations of mother nature’s produce.

[savefoodsharefood-blog]

Ugly Is The New Pretty.

The trend of eating more of ‘ugly’ food is spreading throughout the globe. Not only are people in general becoming more aware of the health consequences caused by GMO foods and become more health conscious, but the public is also getting more concerned with the earth’s environment and future consequences of nowadays lifestyles. The articles below range from information about how we can not only live more healthily on a smaller budget but also to save more of the foods that otherwise would go to waste. There has to be a re-learning of what real food or produce looks and tastes like, so that the misconceptions can be decreased and eventually erased. It’s important to educate the public about the good available produce out there, that is in front of their faces but goes to waste just because it doesn’t meet certain aesthetic standards and doesn’t even make it on the shelves in the supermarkets. Imperfect produce is not only cheaper, tastes better but can be used in many good ways that helps with fighting food insecurity and gets to those who are in need of food. 

"Ugly Food Is Hot." Health 30.5 (2016): 11. Health Source - Consumer Edition. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. DIANE SMITH, MELISSA. "7 Ways To Eat Out Gmo-Free." Better Nutrition 78.3 (2016): 44-46. Alt HealthWatch. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. Wirzba, Norman. "Eating In Ignorance: Do We Know Where Our Food Comes From?." The Christian Century 129.11 (2012): 24-27. ATLA Religion Database. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. Ford, George C. "Hy-Vee offers 'ugly' produce in order to reduce food waste, reduce cost of fruits and veggies." Gazette, The (Cedar Rapids, IA) 19 Jan. 2017: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 16 Feb. 2017 Prengaman, Kate. "Growing movement focuses on 'ugly' fruits and vegetables to fight food waste." Yakima Herald-Republic (WA) 19 Sept. 2016: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. Cathey, Kyla. "Ugly produce, great taste: Raley's aims to make food more accessible." Lodi News-Sentinel (CA) 11 July 2015: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. "Ugly Is In, As Beautiful Food 'Porn' Loses Appeal." Food Manufacture (2015): 1. Small Business Reference Center. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. Santich, Kate. "Loving 'ugly' food part of battle against hunger." Orlando Sentinel, The (FL) 09 Aug. 2016: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. http://www.sustainabletable.org/254/local-regional-food-systems http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/supermarkets-should-sell-more-ugly-fruits-and-vegetables.html http://www.endfoodwastenow.org/index.php/issues/issues-processing https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/13/us-food-waste-ugly-fruit-vegetables-perfect

[savefoodsharefood-blog]

Don’t waste produce! France as an example.

The blog post I am going to focus on is published on the Tumblr home Mic.com and carries the title ‘France Is Making Its Supermarkets Use Their Unsold Food in the Best Way Possible’ (see https://mic.com/articles/119124/france-is-making-its-supermarkets-use-their-unsold-food-in-the-best-way-possible?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social#.DhHxuLs6b). Tom McKay, the author of the blog post, talks in his blog post about how France started donating produce that didn’t meet the requirements for being sold at grocery stores anymore. Yet the produce was still consumable, which means that France could start saving huge amounts of foods that otherwise would go to waste and land in the trash.

What I really like about the blog post was the author’s clear approach and his listing of facts, such as the amount of food that is wasted per person each year and how much money can be saved by donating the produce that can’t be sold in stores anymore due to the expiration date on the label. While the focus is on France, it gives examples and an indirect appeal to the US to adopt this new regulation. It wouldn’t only be helpful to the many Americans suffering from food insecurity, but also had a positive effect on the environment overall. On the critical side, the author assumes that it is pretty impossible to enforce such law in a big country like the US, which I think is not quite true and seems like there is a lack of trust in the government’s implementation and slow transformation of one’s country. The US is large for sure and houses a great amount of people, yet I believe that anything is possible considering that it will take some time to slowly change. Besides that, I don’t think there are any flaws in it, as the example of how France prevents food waste and implemented regulations that everyone sticks to, makes it a very encouraging and hopeful post in regards to being an example to other countries which hopefully can follow suit sooner or later.

[savefoodsharefood-blog]

Food to share. Food to save.

Have you ever thought about how much food is wasted every year per country? In the United States itself, we waste so much food that if we had used them the right way we could have fed an additional 2 billion people! Thus, I feel that it is important to start doing something about it, so why not start in our community? I think being able to start sharing foods that are still good with others when we don’t need or want them, is a great start as well as creating a way to get the word out about foods that are still good but get thrown away by stores just since they don’t meet specific standards - which are based on the look, yet it doesn’t influence the taste of it at all!

Here are some resources for some peaks and first information!

1) http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/03/global-food-waste-statistics/#/MM8423_150902_1882_Final.ngsversion.1464816626915.jpg

2) http://www.imperfectproduce.com/#ugly-produce-delivered

3) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodsharing.de

4) http://www.utahsown.org/Blog/Utah-Agriculture-A-Unique-Aspect-of-American-Agriculture

5) https://www.facebook.com/LaNayFerme/

6) http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/produce-stands-to-grab-fresh-food-in-utah-valley/collection_c01de426-dd3b-54d5-a355-a7f4becfc731.html

7) http://utahvalley360.com/2014/07/18/season-utah-valley-farmers-markets/

8) http://utahvalley360.com/2014/11/12/provo-council-looking-future-farmland/