I'm nagging my parents and sister to throw away food. This sounds counter intuitive, but to put it bluntly; they're fat. They're all over 100kg, while I'm around 65kg. They eat more than twice as much as me, and when there's a bit left over they'll eat it because it'd be a waste to throw it away. Therefore they're getting used to eating more, and my mother ends up preparing more, and therefore they're eating more, etc, etc. Throwing leftovers away and decreasing the amount of food they eat would mean that they're not wasting food by over-eating.
Buying just the necessary and abstaining from grabbing things not on my grocery list. Questioning my family & friends while at the supermarket even when it makes them uncomfortable.
Here in the Netherlands we have 2 types of expiration dates. TGT ('te gebruiken tot'; 'usable until') is used for products which spoils easily like meat, fish, etc. After this date you should throw it away for safety reasons. THT ('tenminste houdbaar tot'; 'atleast usable until') is used for all products which don't spoil quickly. After this date the quality could degrade, but it is usually still safe to eat. I often eat something a few months (or sometimes a year) after this date as long as it smells and tastes alright. There are still issues with the dates since there are no laws on testing the dates. But I think this system is better than an "expiration date" for everything since it suggests that the food isn't eatable once said date has passed.
Having worked at a Dutch supermarket, I could even add that the TGT of meat, is often exaggerated. When ground beef (gehakt) is discolored, it will be thrown away even if it is perfectly edible. And those pies, they may have a TGT for the same day, but you can easily eat them 2 or 3 days afterwards. It is nice that we have the two systems, but it isn't everything. It requires a bit of understanding to know what a number means. And that is what you hint at, there are no standardized practices. I will try to tell people, that even if an egg says that it can only be stored until a certain date, that does not mean it can't be consumed. But even I find my self shopping for the 'fresher' items. It is a hard thing to overcome.
@@GravefriHave Agreed, very much so, however: that's a slow change, and in some cases - single parent with a job and several kids - I'd be very hesitant to tell them to switch to 100% homemade meals unless I'm also offering free baby-sitting. Teaching people the difference between _minimal_ and _maximal_ keepability, and how to best store things, is quicker. Also: it's usually easier to convince somebody to save money than to invest time and energy into getting new habits and skills.
@@globalmuffin2 Yes no. If I panic buy 20 pounds of oranges for a single person household, certainly, but I'd have to be a bit on the dim side to do that. Every single recommendation I've seen posted (typically in the _same_ post that tells you not to panic buy, but here's a shopping list for panic buying!) lists _non-perishables_: rice, pasta, canned food and so on. I have been buying larger amounts these days to minimize the amount of time I spend in a shop. So far, I haven't thrown out so much as a single onion. Some basic knowledge of how to store stuff, and you're good.
In my opinion, people who grew up in the society embedded in materialism and capitalism get used to the idea of convience and abundance. Many problems are created out of those ideas. From food waste, single-use containers from takeout, fast-fashion, to obesity. The cheaper it is, the more convient it is, the more they sell. And it works everytime. I grew up in a country where many can't afford convenience and abundance. People, even corporations, often reuse, and make stuffs and frugally conserve their food and resources. However, that does not result in prosperous economy. I often ask myself 'can environmental protection and economic growth go hand in hand?', often the answer is no. I really want to see if there is a successful example of growth and protection in balance. Because in the political narrative, economic growth often get the attention from both politicians and citizens then environmental protection. And there will be no doubt about the amount of interests people will have if we can have both. But I don't know if I'll live 'till the day that happen to the U.S.
The problem is that the economy is ruled by the wealthy elite but when it fucks up it's always the lower class that ends up being hurt. When the economy tanks corporations get several billion dollar buyouts but the worker still gets fired. This means that how the economy is doing can literally determine whether or not a worker will live in the short term and that makes it such an effective propaganda tool. People rightfully get worried when they're told that climate action will hurt the economy because to them it could literally be a death sentence. But this isn't actually because suddenly there's a shortage of whatever they need to survive, the housing crisis didn't erupt because all of the houses suddenly collapsed, they were all still there but somehow homelessness still increased. We need to stop letting the economy dictate the survival of the working class and actually use the resources we have when we have them instead of only using them when it's profitable if we want to see meaningful climate action. This is why social justice and climate change action are intimately tied together. Crisis in capitalism are never because there is an actual shortage of something, they're almost always crisis of overproduction and these will always keep happening as long as capitalism exists because it demands that we produce as much as possible instead of what we need.
It is possible to have both environmental protection and economic growth if we started a few decades ago (after WWII) when the human population was much smaller. Now the inertia of the system is too big and even short-term transition measures would lead to catastrophic consequences to certain groups of people (especially the poors). That's why all political and systemic changes have been happening so slow.
This is possible if 1st world population accepts to lower their standards when it comes to how much s*** they buy and consume, and if 2nd and 3rd world population accept they never will get to live the way the westerners live right now and stop somewhere on the way there for the sake of global sustainability. Both are unfortunately very unlikely to happen. 1st world pop. is ignorant by corporal brainwashing, 2nd and 3rd world pop. were exploited for a long time and are both much less educated and (mostly rightfully) feel entitled to reaching our level eventually as part of a natural "seeking a better standard of living" process that's sped up immensely due to globalization and information age.
There definitely are: Singapore is far richer than the US, and is regularly hailed as one of the most efficient and conservation-friendly countries in the world. It's about mindset and not about the economic model of the country.
I grew up without much abundance even though I live in the US. This taught me to value each item I own no matter how inexpensive it is. I would say I still consume a lot but I simply don’t let whatever I own go to waste. I’ll either sell it off eventually or wait until it’s too old and worn out and needs to be discarded
I remember tomatoes my grandparents had, a small amount just for themselves. Those were the ugliest tomatoes I have seen in my life but the best I ever tasted.
@@lalaland2107 Food-Waste was amazingly covered by Second Thought in his video named 'Is Cpaitalism Actually Efficient??'. We can all do Something aainst this; some things probably come to mind; but i wanna add: Even outside of Rallys, important people often do answer Questions from 'normal Dudes', so isnt that an Opportunity for Much?!
@@nenmaster5218 @Nen Master5 Funny enough, Second though linked this video in his sources from his video "can capitalism solve world hunger?" which should be publicly released in about two days.
i dont understand. first world countries waste food because there is more of it, and most of the time the food is still edible. while poor countries suffer from food shortages. there should be more rules in place to avoid waste
Even worse, in all steps (producing, distributing, preserving, and disposal) they wastefully contribute to climate change, which makes it even WORSE for people in poor countries.
@@QuestForEco Yeah but I think the important point is that not every single human individually is to blame here. It's the few people in power who organize this system who deserve most of the blame. The worker didn't have a choice in whether or not they wanted to go along. This is hopeful because it means the vast majority of people are not shit and can be convinced to change and many already want to.
50 years ago, it was considered as an unimaginable moral crime. Nowadays our generation takes food on the plate for granted and do not feel too bad for throwing away some leftovers. This is the most repulsive side of consumerism that is so strongly rooted in our society and there is not one known solution. It is an amalgamate of changing our consumerist behaviour, (2 for 1 etc.), government intervention through education, taxes, laws and innovative market based solutions.
Hey, maybe it is different in the USA but i saw this video on ''ugly'' veggies and fruits they sold for a cheaper price but they found out that these were already being sold just by other sectors. They explained that they never throw away the ugly produce they just sell it as second class.
The US is a bit unique here because the US government heavily and illegally subsidizes the farming industry to keep the US as a major food exporter. This is for strategic reasons so the US can undercut food prices in developing countries and therefor a US embargo becomes a powerful weapon for the US since it can mean cutting the food supply to said country. But this also means that US agriculture is encouraged to massively overproduce and this creates tight margins which results in food waste. Farms of all kinds in the US can only survive by massively scaling up production in order to stay competitive and that results in food waste because second class is simply unprofitable. The US also doesn't really have the same market for organic food as other fist world countries which means that there isn't a second market that is less tight that farmers can turn to if they want to be more sustainable.
I do not remember when was the last time when I check expiration date on a dairy product (milk, yoghurt, cream, soft cheese, buttermilk etc.). If it's bad, YOU'D KNOW IT. There is no way around the smell and/or consistency, if it's spoiled. Otherwise, if it looks fine and smells fine, it's fine to eat it.
Word. I've seen people throw out milk because it was _close_ to the so-called expiration date, and it drives me nuts. What the expiration date is mostly useful for is: if you have several boxes, open the one closest to the expiration date first. Concerning yoghurt: I switched to use organic yoghurt as a starter, spooning some of it into a freshly opened milk box, incubate, and 12 hours later you've got so many lactic acid bacteria that the harmful ones have little chance to get a foot (cell wall protrusion?) on the ground.
THIS. SO. MUCH!!! I hate it when people indiscriminately throw their food away without giving it a glance, taste or smell! 🙄 I check dates when I buy stuff but once I've opened it, I go by smell and/or taste. So many things take a lot longer to spoil, especially if they haven't been opened yet. A lot of food packaging is done so well and with no air, so food won't spoil. A friend of mine once left a yoghurt and opened it after a year. It was still good to eat.
Although for some foods there are exceptions. For example some people like those with Parkinson's disease can not smell food well so they can acidently eat some rotten foods without knowing it. Universal expatriation dates that are standardized are also important for accessability :)
@@avacurtis2729 That is not the majority of the people though... I also don't think we should get rid of this concept -if it were standardised- and people would need to be more educated on it. I understand that not everybody has the ability to check themselves or have people around them to check but like I said, that's also not the majority of people.
my mum always used to say 'it's called best before, not deadly after' so I don't see why I should waste it if my eyes and nose tell me it's still alright to eat
This is definitely a serious problem. I worked in a college dining hall as a student and I saw so much perfectly good food thrown into trash bags at the end of the day or meal period. Each day several trash bags full of food would just be discarded.
I've never been much of a food waster and always made sure that i compost every little bit that would have end in the trash, but i didn't know that such small thing as an "Expiration Date" could make me unconsciously waste even more food just by asuming that after this date it is no longer edible. Thanks, take care :)
Dairy-based products like yoghurt are especially durable. I once ate a yoghurt that was a week past its expiration date after my family wanted to throw it away, and I was perfectly fine.
My family owns a store/market where we mostly sell food(organic and processed). If you don't understand it, it's ok, because as far as I know it's something missing in the first world countries where supermarkets are the only place where you buy food, at least in the big cities. Anyways, what I want to say is, when people buy fruit and vegetables at our store they choose the freshest, the best of the best. The "lower" quality ones get used by my family. My mom cooks so well, and uses almost everything left there. We aren't missing out on the "best" products cause my mom knows how to treat the "unwanted" ones the right way. All those would end up in the rubbish if we didn't do this. It makes me feel good.
That's great. I grew up with a garden, and over the years I helped to plant, care for and harvest fruit, salad, tomatoes, turnip greens, kale, potatoes, radishes ... The concept of an apple being "_bad_" because it's less than 100% round and shiny makes me roll my eyes. Doubly so when it comes from people who'll buy strawberries grown a continent away _which are still 30% green(!)_ and will taste slightly more of strawberry than, say, a piece of cucumber would. I get that not everybody has a garden. But I love that urban gardening is spreading, and all the variations of hydroponic gardening, vertical gardening and so on.
I'm not gonna lie...I do a lot of "visual" shopping too whenever I go out. If a produce is sitting there by itself, I would definitely think something is wrong with it! Next time I go out to buy groceries, I will definitely keep this idea in mind and try to get over this old habit!
Too slowly, and starting from the very bottom. The very top in global scale (which includes middle class in rich countries) will still have that illusion for some time.
global famine is about to come, as soil is exhausted. y intensive agriculture due to a population refusing to make dietary changes alongside, chain reactions from deforestation, fish stock collapse, ice melting etc, all being the lungs of the planet, are about to turn climate insane, as CO2 levels rise exponentially. water will become even more scarce globally in short thats the most prominent changes
Another major contributing factor is that most people do not know HOW TO STORE perishable food before use. Some fruit and vegetables go into the fridge, some don't. Some must be stored in crisper drawers that vent inside the fridge, some must be stored in crisper drawers that don't vent (in order to maintain humidity). Some foods naturally outgas as they decay and can spoil nearby foods. No wonder so much perishable foods goes bad! (Not to mention certain foods (beef) ruin the climate because of their environmental footprint.)
When I eat a meal and don't eat all of it I save it. Always. Instead of eating snacks throughout the day I eat from the leftover food from lunch. One of the great ways of preventing food waste is realising that the food isn't for one time. But can be eaten over the course of a few hours.
I feel very sad for food that is left on someone's plate (especially in restaurants)... I've seen some people order a huuuuge plate and then leave ¾ of it!
The biggest question this video left me with is why is food waste going to land fill? Where I live it goes into making compost. Food waste is a valuable resource
The only food we throw away in my house is food that's been given to us that was close to spoiling and we already had something to eat that HAD to be eaten that day. We eat ALL the veggies we grow in our balcony garden...even the "ugly" ones. Thankfully we don't usually get gifted ready to eat food. Usually ingredients/produce is gifted to us. We only shop for what we need when it comes to food and adjust based on what's gifted to us. Thankfully we have a lot of food and share with family members.
I don't think me and my family waste that much food at all. My mom always said that the "best by" date doesn't really matter and that you just have to taste the food to check if it's still good. My family just has this really nice mindset of not wasting stuff (in general, but also with food). I think that it's really valuable to have this kind of thinking, especially in today's wasteful society. It's definitely also a country thing, bc i think that the country i'm from has a better way with not wasting food than, let's say, the US. But there are ofc also wasteful corporations and people here.
I love tackling food waste. I'll sometimes take food and put it in a smaller container to show that it needs to be eaten first. I've recently use white ribs and seeds from some jalapenos, with a used tomato pasta sauce, and a salt less used ketchup that I didn't like to make hot sauce. Finding ways to keep food fresher so it doesn't go bad. When carrots or celery go limp, I put them into a jar of water and they become fresh again. Using pickling juice again to pickle other vegetables. Taking the leftover tomato paste, sauces, chipotle sauce and freezing in dollops than put the into a container for future recipes. 2021 year is my resolution to tackle food waste. I would love to hear from anyone of you how you tackle food waste. Thanks
one of the thought I have is about this: in a purely practical sence (yes, NOT economically, I do realise that) it would be good for a surrounding area like a comunity to have a centralised kitchen, with a good stock of everything needed, dry and canned and other long term stuff in a cool pantry, a cooler inside that (also walk in) and on the deepest part the (again walk in) freezer. so that with a kitchen around that and a place to consume meals around that... stock would be filled for feeding the comunity with what they want, need and want to afford. at home you would have a small cooler for some cold drinks, milk for in your coffee and some snacks basically... this would save a lot of food waste due to over buying.... it's easy to make little mistakes per say 4 persons in a household, but multipie this by 100 and it becomes aparent fast how much food would go to waste on a dayly and weekly base. also.. the cost of cooling the whole lot in a centralised area is way more energy efficient and cheaper. maintaining this over the years and decades also should be a lot cheaper than replacing all the fridges the homes would have individually. yes, I do underrstand that you would have to walk to the kitchen, outside your house to get your meals.... but let's be honest here, that's mearly a little inconvenient and easy to get used to. let me know what you think and where to improve on this concept please.
ohw... and next to that... left over food (and not the cardboard it came in, let's not even speak about plastic) could be gathered very easy there to ship the same day.. or perhaps once a week to farm animals like pigs and chickens (that are known to both eat just about anything) to be put to good use there. anything left after that can just be composted and used that way.
okay.. one more point then: as a bigger buyer you could get better prices for stuff aswell. this next to the idea that you could buy straight from farmers and butchers in your area for some products.
thank you for this. people don't talk about it nearly as much as they should. while i go out of my way to buy only what i will use, i still sometimes have scraps left on my plate, or things that expire before i eat it all. because i live in an area with lots of wildlife, i just put it out for them. yes, i know this is "illegal" in some areas, but we all know that the opossums and raccoons just dig it out of the trashcans and dumpsters anyway. i'm just sparing them that extra step. 🤗
I'm taking advantage of the quarantine to delay my next food shop and do a pantry clear out. I live alone and I've already been able to make it two weeks since my last shop (where I did admittedly buy lots of longer lasting fruit and veg). And I have have a surprising amount of food still left (that gluten free flour I bought to make a cake for a friend but didn't finish up, the candy, lentil pasta and various vegan substitutes that I tried but didn't like, those dried fruits, the dried beans and chickpeas I never use because I forget to soak the night before, the varied contents of my freezer...) So I may be able to wait another few days, and then still only buy produce... I think it's a good thing to try!
Y'all should check out misfit market. They sell weird looking produce for cheaper prices than you could get at a grocery store. Plus, all the packaging is pretty eco friendly. They're available in some eastern states in the US but are hoping to expand
I live in a household that consistently wastes food every week. But because of this whole pandemic and scarcity of food leftover in the grocery stores, they are now rationing their foods for fear of leaving the house and going grocery shopping. I was worried that panic buying would worsen the situation, but it instead changed their mindset. At least for my family. Hopefully, it is ingrained in their mind now that not every day the grocery stores will have everything they want now.
I work in a supermarket and the amount of perfectly fine packaged and fresh food is horrifying.Like nearly everyday i see couple trolleys full of rotten vegs and fruit,bread and expired goods
I buy food that I can either freeze or is dry and holds for a long time. After cooking I save the excess in a plastic container and sometimes freeze even that. Though my friends keep on whinning how I keep on having an empty fridge is so weird because I make enough and save everything I need.
Lack of education and panic/anxiety can cause a lot of uncertainty leading to waste of not just food but also ignorance to many things. Coming from a restaurant family, we educate ourselves that food doesn’t spoil that easily. Just because it looks bad doesn’t mean it’s gone rotten. Obviously, if there’s mould growing on it, we try to find ways to be able to consume the food to plate in a way producing little waste like chopping that part off and cooking the rest. For example, eat the skin with your apple, don’t cut off 1/3 of a green onion and throw it away in the garbage because you can’t ‘eat’ that portion. Everything is edible. And remember, fermentation! Mould/bacteria is a good thing, or else you wouldn’t have that delicious sourdough bread or pickles in your fridge if we were deadly afraid of ‘germs’. Cook your own food. The more you learn how to cook, I find people learn to understand the amount of food wasted everyday. Even if that means getting a take-out box to take home the remaining food you couldn’t finish at a restaurant.
In India, no one throws food wastes in bins, like other countries. Instead we store them all in one utensil and later that day, feed them to cows and buffaloes who come at our doors. If any poor and helpless human being comes before we transfer all in one utensil, we just give them in an eco-friendly plates so they can eat at the spot.
Whenever I waste food it’s mainly because I was forced into buying a quantity of something that’s predetermined by the packaging. If I wanted to try a new snack, I’m forced to buy an entire bag and can’t decide the exact amount I want
In the 90's South Korea's citizens had less than 2% responsibility for food waste, now it's 95% today! In 2005 the government banned food scraps in the bin and in 2013 the dirty water of the processed food to be dumped in the sea. Every citizen has automatic bins close to their homes that count their food waste. Where does the excess food go? - It goes to special process/composting machines that create it to pig food and even reusable energy. Source: CBC Wasted: The Story of Food Waste. (you can find the over hour long video on their site.)
One problem I find is that finding fresh food in small enough quantities for just one person is really hard. When I buy fresh, no matter how carefully, some of it is going to be going to waste simply because I cannot buy small enough portions. There's also the fact that so much fruit looks excellent but is absolute garbage once you bite in. Zero flavor, or unable to ripen despite you doing everything you're suppose to, it just rots instead. And then it goes in the green bin. It's frustrating that so much of what you buy ends up being basicly inedible when it comes to fresh foods. And even more frustrating- there's less and less different types of local crops being grown so getting local is impossible for certain popular foods. For example, no locally grown strawberries anymore in the local supermarket, or anywhere else. They're just not being grown.
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Selling produce products by eaches and not by weight is also a waste generator. When people shop to stretch their dollar, they're going for the biggest zuchini or the heaviest head of lettus, some will inevitably get left behind to spoil.
@@globalmuffin2 what a rude comment lol should he write while standing outside would that make him know more? Where else do you research but a library or computer
The important thing about most psychological tricks (like the one with overbuying products to destroy the illusion of "the last one is bad") is that knowing about the psychological trick can make you immune to it. Consumer psychology has to be something talked about in school, tv and maybe even with notes just above the products themselve. Of course this is unlikely to happen since the government loses money by doing this, but the solution too some oof the problems is already close. We do not to change the system, just to change our minds and anything else will follow with time
there's a really cool app in my country that enables stores to offer the items they couldn't sell during the day for a lower price to others. a lot of bakeries use it to not have to throw away the leftovers
My city has a robust compost system but during the summer I opt to bokashi my food waste to make amazing healthy soil. I'm convinced that bokashi and it's bacteria is one part of creating healthy soil a la terra preta.
I would be curious about your examination of Imperfect Foods, Misfits Market, and similar services. Are they actually helping food waste? It sort of seems like they might be selling produce whole that would otherwise be used in things in salad bars, deli counters, or canned/frozen prepared foods.
I tried composting to be more environmentally friendly. Its not going well but I'm gonna keep trying. If the US government would implement some sort of tax write off to everyone who composts I feel like it could make a huge difference.
At 0:39 you say 40% of food is wasted in the US. At 2:07 you show that 16% of food waste happens on the farm. Combined, this should mean that farms waste 6.4% of all our food. But at 3:26 you say "33.7% of produce remains unharvested every year". How is that number so much higher? I get these are different studies but that's an extreme difference. I'm very skeptical of how to interpret this last number.
@@globalmuffin2 Oh sorry I should have guess that ! I didn't make the connection. I'm french so my english is not perfect so I thought that was my english fault 😂
Because people aren't concerned on how we buy food and how much we can eat. There's so many people around this world that needs food and need a way to get this wasted food to feed their families. Food waste in grocery stores are way to much before they can sale the first batch is a sold and they throw away food because of the way it looks.
I imagine all the food will be wasted after all the hoarding and people panic buying twenty cans of tuna and 5 gallons of milk 😬 I’m glad many grocery stores have started to crack down on this by limiting the units of food you can buy in one shopping trip.
Working at a buffet, I have seen this first hand. And it is disgusting to watch how much food that we “have to throw away” when the food is still very eatable. We would see homeless people hangout near the garbage cans just to get what they could.
The food regulations in the US seem very confusing and quite shocking. Luckily in the UK, we have some of the best food regulations in the EU. There is a clear difference between 'use by' dates (The date at which the food could begin to spoil, however usually safe to eat 1-2 days after) and 'best before' dates (The date at which food won't be as good quality as it was when it left the factory. However still perfectly edible, can be eaten years after this date for non-perishable goods). Even in the last year, I have seen a huge change in the products within UK supermarkets, such as fruit and veg labeled 'imperfectly perfect' meaning that although it's wonky, it's still perfectly edible. Even a year or two ago, much more of this visually imperfect food would have been wasted, now on the shelves at reduced prices, helping to combat unnecessary food waste. I think the best way to combat food waste is to broaden our horizons with imperfect fruit and vegetables and use our instincts (like people used to). We also need to stop over buying food. Food plates should also be a universal size, which will help people regulate portion control. We should also buy more frozen fruit and vegetables which will last longer and often, have better nutritional value as they are frozen as soon as they are picked, locking in nutrients. In high-income countries, we need to stop taking the wide availability of food for granted and shop in a smart way, start by making a weekly meal plan and making a list. We should also consider eating insects as part of our diet. Already 2 billion people around the world eat insects, in countries such as the UK & US they are deemed to be a pest, this is a psychological barrier which must be changed if we are to limit food waste and carbon emissions. Many insects such as crickets contain more protein and iron per 100g compared to beef. They also have a tiny amount of land and water use. Their abundance makes them a reliable food we should all consider. We should also consider eating 'all' of the animal such as cows lung/heart/liver etc. By doing this we will help to reduce water use and prevent edible meat from being thrown away, just due to the attitude towards it. Overall we need to think about what we are buying, how much we are buying, food portions, tighten food regulations, and relax the rules around visually imperfect food. By doing all of this will all save money, food, water, land use, and improve the looming obesity crisis. We need to stop being so fussy and start trying new/different things! That's all I have to say - Rant over 🤣🤣
I'm beginning to think that the sentence "But A doesn't just magically B" is a signature move of this channel. Which, okay, yes, gotta have a gimmick. I've seen some really nice ones. But these versions: _"But food doesn't just sprout of the ground and then magically end up in the trash." "But a tree doesn't just magically grow the moment you use Ecosia to search."_ have a slight touch of "I'm assuming that you just stepped out of the pod you were (magically) grown in and somebody is showing you this video".
Wait how does this math work? A third of produce never makes it off the farm (3:31), but farms are only responsible for 16% of total food waste (2:15), and two thirds of food waste happens after purchase? Wouldn't that mean no food ever gets eaten? What non-farm places are we getting such huge amounts of food from? Am I missing something obvious here?
The people I live with are big food wasters. They actually believe in sell-by dates and they often put the perfectly good food they throw out in the regular bin, not the food waste bin. We've recently started growing our own veg, but they still buy just as much veg as they used to, including the courgettes we've been growing successfully all summer, many of which went to waste because I couldn't eat them all myself.
A good solution to some of the problem would be food rescue programs and apps. A store could easily make an app that gives out free food about to go off in that day. Doesen't even have to be free, just cheaper. I know these exist already, but not enough of them and in enough places. This needs to be a thing worldwide in all countries. And we could use a food sharing app like OLIO to give food out we know we arent going to eat, to others who need it. Community fridges are great and theres loads of them London for example. Imagine if there was community fridges all over the world We can do this, guys. It's not the hardest problem to solve that we face. Let's all give it a shot.
I think so, but since many of them are covered in pesticides and waxes, they aren't technically all that safe to eat, at least unless you scrub them with salt for a bit.
I mean, the way to get rid of excess food is to preserve it and send it to food insecure regions. It looks a bit like a logistics and distribution issue. Also, a carcass is the waste other animals create. So are barren, overgrazed, former grasslands. So are decimated prey populations. Humans aren't unique in our ability to kill, take, waste, and destroy, but we are conscious of it and doing it on an enormous scale
They complain about people wasting food. What about restaurants that throw away food. Restaurants don't keep food stored very long They can't. It's called liability. Have you ever went dumpster diving behind a restaurant. It's amazing what's in them things.
I've eaten eggs that was 1 month out of date... I needed eggs and figured you'd be able to tell once you cracked them if they was off. They was fine and I was fine.
I really wish they'd sell 'ugly' food too. Like, just make it slightly cheaper, and the 'perfect' ones slightly mroe expensive to balance out the price. Some people will probably still want the nice looking apples and be willing to pay extra, but others will be happy to save some money and go with the bendy carrot. A sell by date seems silly. Like... does food suddenly spoil once you've bought it? Or last forever once you've bought it? whut? I use an app called Too Good To Go. There you can order a 'magic bag' from a variety of businesses and pick it up at the end of the day. They'll put in whatever spoilable food is left. For example fruit and veg from supermarkets, sandwiches and cake from cafes, bread from bakeries, or full meals from restaurants. Usually you're basically getting a 50 to 70% discount on your food. Only downside is that you never quite know what you're getting, so you're limited if you have any dietary restrictions. There's also a thing called Foodsharing here, a website where you can offer food you have left over to be picked up by others and vice versa, or bring it to a dedicated fridge that anybody can access. I haven't used it in a while, because most of those 'open fridges' are inside buildings that have opening times that often don't work with my schedule. But it's a pretty great thing. There's also volunteers that pick up leftover food from businesses to bring it there. Although I guess bringing it to a food bank instead would make sure those who need food the most have the best chance of getting any. Also keep a shelf full of freezer boxes, so you can keep any leftovers. Jars work too, for plastic free. Just place the lids on lightly without screwing them. I'm also way less careful about food spoilage than I probably should be for my own health... (do not try this at home)
True that. It'd be nice if appreciation for food was incorporated more into education. It's not possible for everybody to grow their own food (beyond what can grow in a small pot on a window cill maybe), so it'd be nice if people still had the opportunity to learn about how things grow :)
I don't know a single building on my road that has a private garden for tennants xD I could get an allotment, but waiting lists for those are long afaik. It's also not just about space. On my old job I was often away for weeks at a time. So no way to water enough. But I'm not a fan of gardening myself anyway xD I'm sure people who are find a way to stack pots in their rooms to grow some chilli ^^
I'm happy to let other people make my food, I in turn will make other things they need for them. The amazingness of human collaboration that's brought us the internet (among other things) ^__^
I don't understand who is waisting food . Don't stock pile things that expire . Stockpile dry things and buy what you need for dinner on your way home . Weekly shopping is so boomer retro . It's like a childhood memory of something my Gran did . Weekly shopping is so
What steps do you take to prevent food waste?
I'm nagging my parents and sister to throw away food.
This sounds counter intuitive, but to put it bluntly; they're fat. They're all over 100kg, while I'm around 65kg. They eat more than twice as much as me, and when there's a bit left over they'll eat it because it'd be a waste to throw it away. Therefore they're getting used to eating more, and my mother ends up preparing more, and therefore they're eating more, etc, etc. Throwing leftovers away and decreasing the amount of food they eat would mean that they're not wasting food by over-eating.
Simple. I don't eat.
I make sure I don't buy any more food than I need and I also compost at home! Simple solutions, when practiced by many can make huge differences.
Buying just the necessary and abstaining from grabbing things not on my grocery list. Questioning my family & friends while at the supermarket even when it makes them uncomfortable.
Buy less,
eat the necessary,
produce by yourself
Here in the Netherlands we have 2 types of expiration dates. TGT ('te gebruiken tot'; 'usable until') is used for products which spoils easily like meat, fish, etc. After this date you should throw it away for safety reasons. THT ('tenminste houdbaar tot'; 'atleast usable until') is used for all products which don't spoil quickly. After this date the quality could degrade, but it is usually still safe to eat. I often eat something a few months (or sometimes a year) after this date as long as it smells and tastes alright.
There are still issues with the dates since there are no laws on testing the dates. But I think this system is better than an "expiration date" for everything since it suggests that the food isn't eatable once said date has passed.
Having worked at a Dutch supermarket, I could even add that the TGT of meat, is often exaggerated. When ground beef (gehakt) is discolored, it will be thrown away even if it is perfectly edible. And those pies, they may have a TGT for the same day, but you can easily eat them 2 or 3 days afterwards. It is nice that we have the two systems, but it isn't everything. It requires a bit of understanding to know what a number means. And that is what you hint at, there are no standardized practices. I will try to tell people, that even if an egg says that it can only be stored until a certain date, that does not mean it can't be consumed. But even I find my self shopping for the 'fresher' items. It is a hard thing to overcome.
Same in Italy! 'Eat before XX/YY' and 'Best before XX/YY'.
@@sig_nessuno even in France they have that but a lot of people don't distinguish between both types
@@Azivegu it's normal to exagerate a bit(beat ?) because you want to take zero risks in this type of stuff.
@@GravefriHave Agreed, very much so, however: that's a slow change, and in some cases - single parent with a job and several kids - I'd be very hesitant to tell them to switch to 100% homemade meals unless I'm also offering free baby-sitting.
Teaching people the difference between _minimal_ and _maximal_ keepability, and how to best store things, is quicker. Also: it's usually easier to convince somebody to save money than to invest time and energy into getting new habits and skills.
panic buying is making it worse
@@juliusnigelmarturillas3629 there is no good side of it. soon you will be eating crickets.
@@globalmuffin2
Yes no.
If I panic buy 20 pounds of oranges for a single person household, certainly, but I'd have to be a bit on the dim side to do that.
Every single recommendation I've seen posted (typically in the _same_ post that tells you not to panic buy, but here's a shopping list for panic buying!) lists _non-perishables_: rice, pasta, canned food and so on.
I have been buying larger amounts these days to minimize the amount of time I spend in a shop. So far, I haven't thrown out so much as a single onion. Some basic knowledge of how to store stuff, and you're good.
In my opinion, people who grew up in the society embedded in materialism and capitalism get used to the idea of convience and abundance. Many problems are created out of those ideas. From food waste, single-use containers from takeout, fast-fashion, to obesity. The cheaper it is, the more convient it is, the more they sell. And it works everytime. I grew up in a country where many can't afford convenience and abundance. People, even corporations, often reuse, and make stuffs and frugally conserve their food and resources. However, that does not result in prosperous economy. I often ask myself 'can environmental protection and economic growth go hand in hand?', often the answer is no. I really want to see if there is a successful example of growth and protection in balance. Because in the political narrative, economic growth often get the attention from both politicians and citizens then environmental protection. And there will be no doubt about the amount of interests people will have if we can have both. But I don't know if I'll live 'till the day that happen to the U.S.
The problem is that the economy is ruled by the wealthy elite but when it fucks up it's always the lower class that ends up being hurt. When the economy tanks corporations get several billion dollar buyouts but the worker still gets fired. This means that how the economy is doing can literally determine whether or not a worker will live in the short term and that makes it such an effective propaganda tool. People rightfully get worried when they're told that climate action will hurt the economy because to them it could literally be a death sentence. But this isn't actually because suddenly there's a shortage of whatever they need to survive, the housing crisis didn't erupt because all of the houses suddenly collapsed, they were all still there but somehow homelessness still increased. We need to stop letting the economy dictate the survival of the working class and actually use the resources we have when we have them instead of only using them when it's profitable if we want to see meaningful climate action. This is why social justice and climate change action are intimately tied together. Crisis in capitalism are never because there is an actual shortage of something, they're almost always crisis of overproduction and these will always keep happening as long as capitalism exists because it demands that we produce as much as possible instead of what we need.
It is possible to have both environmental protection and economic growth if we started a few decades ago (after WWII) when the human population was much smaller. Now the inertia of the system is too big and even short-term transition measures would lead to catastrophic consequences to certain groups of people (especially the poors). That's why all political and systemic changes have been happening so slow.
This is possible if 1st world population accepts to lower their standards when it comes to how much s*** they buy and consume, and if 2nd and 3rd world population accept they never will get to live the way the westerners live right now and stop somewhere on the way there for the sake of global sustainability.
Both are unfortunately very unlikely to happen. 1st world pop. is ignorant by corporal brainwashing, 2nd and 3rd world pop. were exploited for a long time and are both much less educated and (mostly rightfully) feel entitled to reaching our level eventually as part of a natural "seeking a better standard of living" process that's sped up immensely due to globalization and information age.
There definitely are: Singapore is far richer than the US, and is regularly hailed as one of the most efficient and conservation-friendly countries in the world. It's about mindset and not about the economic model of the country.
I grew up without much abundance even though I live in the US. This taught me to value each item I own no matter how inexpensive it is. I would say I still consume a lot but I simply don’t let whatever I own go to waste. I’ll either sell it off eventually or wait until it’s too old and worn out and needs to be discarded
I remember tomatoes my grandparents had, a small amount just for themselves. Those were the ugliest tomatoes I have seen in my life but the best I ever tasted.
That's pretty amazing
@@lalaland2107 Food-Waste was amazingly covered by Second Thought in his video named 'Is Cpaitalism Actually Efficient??'. We can all do Something aainst this; some things probably come to mind; but i wanna add: Even outside of Rallys, important people often do answer Questions from 'normal Dudes', so isnt that an Opportunity for Much?!
@@nenmaster5218 @Nen Master5 Funny enough, Second though linked this video in his sources from his video "can capitalism solve world hunger?" which should be publicly released in about two days.
@@thevictor180 Oh?
Heirloom variety?
i dont understand. first world countries waste food because there is more of it, and most of the time the food is still edible.
while poor countries suffer from food shortages. there should be more rules in place to avoid waste
You will start to appreciate things when they are rare. C'mon, food is literally thrown at us in commercials.
Even worse, in all steps (producing, distributing, preserving, and disposal) they wastefully contribute to climate change, which makes it even WORSE for people in poor countries.
The common problem in both cases is how efficiently food is distributed.
This is such an eye-opening video. It's crazy how humans have messed up everything, even something as simple and essential as food!
@@MarioRossi993 True, but it was humans who came up with capitalism.
Quest For Eco Those idiots even managed to corrupt democracy
@@QuestForEco Yeah but I think the important point is that not every single human individually is to blame here. It's the few people in power who organize this system who deserve most of the blame. The worker didn't have a choice in whether or not they wanted to go along. This is hopeful because it means the vast majority of people are not shit and can be convinced to change and many already want to.
@@hedgehog3180 I agree!
Stupidity, not humans. As a human I feel offended.
50 years ago, it was considered as an unimaginable moral crime. Nowadays our generation takes food on the plate for granted and do not feel too bad for throwing away some leftovers. This is the most repulsive side of consumerism that is so strongly rooted in our society and there is not one known solution. It is an amalgamate of changing our consumerist behaviour, (2 for 1 etc.), government intervention through education, taxes, laws and innovative market based solutions.
Hey, maybe it is different in the USA but i saw this video on ''ugly'' veggies and fruits they sold for a cheaper price but they found out that these were already being sold just by other sectors. They explained that they never throw away the ugly produce they just sell it as second class.
The US is a bit unique here because the US government heavily and illegally subsidizes the farming industry to keep the US as a major food exporter. This is for strategic reasons so the US can undercut food prices in developing countries and therefor a US embargo becomes a powerful weapon for the US since it can mean cutting the food supply to said country. But this also means that US agriculture is encouraged to massively overproduce and this creates tight margins which results in food waste. Farms of all kinds in the US can only survive by massively scaling up production in order to stay competitive and that results in food waste because second class is simply unprofitable. The US also doesn't really have the same market for organic food as other fist world countries which means that there isn't a second market that is less tight that farmers can turn to if they want to be more sustainable.
I do not remember when was the last time when I check expiration date on a dairy product (milk, yoghurt, cream, soft cheese, buttermilk etc.). If it's bad, YOU'D KNOW IT. There is no way around the smell and/or consistency, if it's spoiled. Otherwise, if it looks fine and smells fine, it's fine to eat it.
Word.
I've seen people throw out milk because it was _close_ to the so-called expiration date, and it drives me nuts.
What the expiration date is mostly useful for is: if you have several boxes, open the one closest to the expiration date first.
Concerning yoghurt: I switched to use organic yoghurt as a starter, spooning some of it into a freshly opened milk box, incubate, and 12 hours later you've got so many lactic acid bacteria that the harmful ones have little chance to get a foot (cell wall protrusion?) on the ground.
THIS. SO. MUCH!!!
I hate it when people indiscriminately throw their food away without giving it a glance, taste or smell! 🙄
I check dates when I buy stuff but once I've opened it, I go by smell and/or taste. So many things take a lot longer to spoil, especially if they haven't been opened yet.
A lot of food packaging is done so well and with no air, so food won't spoil.
A friend of mine once left a yoghurt and opened it after a year. It was still good to eat.
Although for some foods there are exceptions. For example some people like those with Parkinson's disease can not smell food well so they can acidently eat some rotten foods without knowing it. Universal expatriation dates that are standardized are also important for accessability :)
@@avacurtis2729 That is not the majority of the people though...
I also don't think we should get rid of this concept -if it were standardised- and people would need to be more educated on it. I understand that not everybody has the ability to check themselves or have people around them to check but like I said, that's also not the majority of people.
my mum always used to say 'it's called best before, not deadly after' so I don't see why I should waste it if my eyes and nose tell me it's still alright to eat
This is definitely a serious problem. I worked in a college dining hall as a student and I saw so much perfectly good food thrown into trash bags at the end of the day or meal period. Each day several trash bags full of food would just be discarded.
I've never been much of a food waster and always made sure that i compost every little bit that would have end in the trash, but i didn't know that such small thing as an "Expiration Date" could make me unconsciously waste even more food just by asuming that after this date it is no longer edible. Thanks, take care :)
Dairy-based products like yoghurt are especially durable. I once ate a yoghurt that was a week past its expiration date after my family wanted to throw it away, and I was perfectly fine.
@@GTAVictor9128 exactly!! milk products are really difficult to go bad
My family owns a store/market where we mostly sell food(organic and processed). If you don't understand it, it's ok, because as far as I know it's something missing in the first world countries where supermarkets are the only place where you buy food, at least in the big cities. Anyways, what I want to say is, when people buy fruit and vegetables at our store they choose the freshest, the best of the best. The "lower" quality ones get used by my family. My mom cooks so well, and uses almost everything left there. We aren't missing out on the "best" products cause my mom knows how to treat the "unwanted" ones the right way. All those would end up in the rubbish if we didn't do this. It makes me feel good.
That's great.
I grew up with a garden, and over the years I helped to plant, care for and harvest fruit, salad, tomatoes, turnip greens, kale, potatoes, radishes ...
The concept of an apple being "_bad_" because it's less than 100% round and shiny makes me roll my eyes. Doubly so when it comes from people who'll buy strawberries grown a continent away _which are still 30% green(!)_ and will taste slightly more of strawberry than, say, a piece of cucumber would.
I get that not everybody has a garden. But I love that urban gardening is spreading, and all the variations of hydroponic gardening, vertical gardening and so on.
I'm not gonna lie...I do a lot of "visual" shopping too whenever I go out.
If a produce is sitting there by itself, I would definitely think something is wrong with it!
Next time I go out to buy groceries, I will definitely keep this idea in mind and try to get over this old habit!
Those stats blew my mind. Thanks for making this!
"The illusion of abundance" is about to fade away...
yup depression/rescission time!
i was always poor, never had this illusion.
Too slowly, and starting from the very bottom. The very top in global scale (which includes middle class in rich countries) will still have that illusion for some time.
global famine is about to come, as soil is exhausted. y intensive agriculture due to a population refusing to make dietary changes
alongside, chain reactions from deforestation, fish stock collapse, ice melting etc, all being the lungs of the planet, are about to turn climate insane, as CO2 levels rise exponentially.
water will become even more scarce globally
in short thats the most prominent changes
Another major contributing factor is that most people do not know HOW TO STORE perishable food before use. Some fruit and vegetables go into the fridge, some don't. Some must be stored in crisper drawers that vent inside the fridge, some must be stored in crisper drawers that don't vent (in order to maintain humidity). Some foods naturally outgas as they decay and can spoil nearby foods. No wonder so much perishable foods goes bad! (Not to mention certain foods (beef) ruin the climate because of their environmental footprint.)
When I eat a meal and don't eat all of it I save it. Always. Instead of eating snacks throughout the day I eat from the leftover food from lunch.
One of the great ways of preventing food waste is realising that the food isn't for one time. But can be eaten over the course of a few hours.
I feel very sad for food that is left on someone's plate (especially in restaurants)... I've seen some people order a huuuuge plate and then leave ¾ of it!
I think we need an option of smaller portions. That would fix a lot.
The biggest question this video left me with is why is food waste going to land fill? Where I live it goes into making compost. Food waste is a valuable resource
The only food we throw away in my house is food that's been given to us that was close to spoiling and we already had something to eat that HAD to be eaten that day. We eat ALL the veggies we grow in our balcony garden...even the "ugly" ones.
Thankfully we don't usually get gifted ready to eat food. Usually ingredients/produce is gifted to us. We only shop for what we need when it comes to food and adjust based on what's gifted to us. Thankfully we have a lot of food and share with family members.
I don't think me and my family waste that much food at all. My mom always said that the "best by" date doesn't really matter and that you just have to taste the food to check if it's still good. My family just has this really nice mindset of not wasting stuff (in general, but also with food). I think that it's really valuable to have this kind of thinking, especially in today's wasteful society. It's definitely also a country thing, bc i think that the country i'm from has a better way with not wasting food than, let's say, the US. But there are ofc also wasteful corporations and people here.
I love all of yours videos and listening to them as I go about my day, you should really consider turning your videos into podcasts too!
I love tackling food waste. I'll sometimes take food and put it in a smaller container to show that it needs to be eaten first. I've recently use white ribs and seeds from some jalapenos, with a used tomato pasta sauce, and a salt less used ketchup that I didn't like to make hot sauce. Finding ways to keep food fresher so it doesn't go bad. When carrots or celery go limp, I put them into a jar of water and they become fresh again. Using pickling juice again to pickle other vegetables. Taking the leftover tomato paste, sauces, chipotle sauce and freezing in dollops than put the into a container for future recipes. 2021 year is my resolution to tackle food waste. I would love to hear from anyone of you how you tackle food waste. Thanks
That's so clever. I love it!
one of the thought I have is about this:
in a purely practical sence (yes, NOT economically, I do realise that) it would be good for a surrounding area like a comunity to have a centralised kitchen, with a good stock of everything needed, dry and canned and other long term stuff in a cool pantry, a cooler inside that (also walk in) and on the deepest part the (again walk in) freezer.
so that with a kitchen around that and a place to consume meals around that... stock would be filled for feeding the comunity with what they want, need and want to afford.
at home you would have a small cooler for some cold drinks, milk for in your coffee and some snacks basically...
this would save a lot of food waste due to over buying.... it's easy to make little mistakes per say 4 persons in a household, but multipie this by 100 and it becomes aparent fast how much food would go to waste on a dayly and weekly base.
also.. the cost of cooling the whole lot in a centralised area is way more energy efficient and cheaper. maintaining this over the years and decades also should be a lot cheaper than replacing all the fridges the homes would have individually.
yes, I do underrstand that you would have to walk to the kitchen, outside your house to get your meals.... but let's be honest here, that's mearly a little inconvenient and easy to get used to.
let me know what you think and where to improve on this concept please.
ohw... and next to that... left over food (and not the cardboard it came in, let's not even speak about plastic) could be gathered very easy there to ship the same day.. or perhaps once a week to farm animals like pigs and chickens (that are known to both eat just about anything) to be put to good use there.
anything left after that can just be composted and used that way.
okay.. one more point then: as a bigger buyer you could get better prices for stuff aswell. this next to the idea that you could buy straight from farmers and butchers in your area for some products.
Omg your content is each time at elite levels
thank you for this.
people don't talk about it nearly as much as they should.
while i go out of my way to buy only what i will use, i still sometimes have scraps left on my plate, or things that expire before i eat it all.
because i live in an area with lots of wildlife, i just put it out for them.
yes, i know this is "illegal" in some areas, but we all know that the opossums and raccoons just dig it out of the trashcans and dumpsters anyway.
i'm just sparing them that extra step. 🤗
I can honestly listen to his voice all day, sounds so relaxing
I'm taking advantage of the quarantine to delay my next food shop and do a pantry clear out. I live alone and I've already been able to make it two weeks since my last shop (where I did admittedly buy lots of longer lasting fruit and veg). And I have have a surprising amount of food still left (that gluten free flour I bought to make a cake for a friend but didn't finish up, the candy, lentil pasta and various vegan substitutes that I tried but didn't like, those dried fruits, the dried beans and chickpeas I never use because I forget to soak the night before, the varied contents of my freezer...) So I may be able to wait another few days, and then still only buy produce... I think it's a good thing to try!
Thank you for making this important - and great - video!
It's a good thing I found this channel. Keep it up
Just discovered your videos and I think they're great. Really well done 👍
Y'all should check out misfit market. They sell weird looking produce for cheaper prices than you could get at a grocery store. Plus, all the packaging is pretty eco friendly. They're available in some eastern states in the US but are hoping to expand
I live in a household that consistently wastes food every week. But because of this whole pandemic and scarcity of food leftover in the grocery stores, they are now rationing their foods for fear of leaving the house and going grocery shopping. I was worried that panic buying would worsen the situation, but it instead changed their mindset. At least for my family. Hopefully, it is ingrained in their mind now that not every day the grocery stores will have everything they want now.
I work in a supermarket and the amount of perfectly fine packaged and fresh food is horrifying.Like nearly everyday i see couple trolleys full of rotten vegs and fruit,bread and expired goods
I buy food that I can either freeze or is dry and holds for a long time. After cooking I save the excess in a plastic container and sometimes freeze even that.
Though my friends keep on whinning how I keep on having an empty fridge is so weird because I make enough and save everything I need.
In Singapore i think theres a store called Ugly Vegetables where they sell produce that is "cosmetically imperfect".
Lack of education and panic/anxiety can cause a lot of uncertainty leading to waste of not just food but also ignorance to many things.
Coming from a restaurant family, we educate ourselves that food doesn’t spoil that easily. Just because it looks bad doesn’t mean it’s gone rotten. Obviously, if there’s mould growing on it, we try to find ways to be able to consume the food to plate in a way producing little waste like chopping that part off and cooking the rest. For example, eat the skin with your apple, don’t cut off 1/3 of a green onion and throw it away in the garbage because you can’t ‘eat’ that portion. Everything is edible. And remember, fermentation! Mould/bacteria is a good thing, or else you wouldn’t have that delicious sourdough bread or pickles in your fridge if we were deadly afraid of ‘germs’.
Cook your own food. The more you learn how to cook, I find people learn to understand the amount of food wasted everyday. Even if that means getting a take-out box to take home the remaining food you couldn’t finish at a restaurant.
Your explanation was very good .......
In India, no one throws food wastes in bins, like other countries. Instead we store them all in one utensil and later that day, feed them to cows and buffaloes who come at our doors. If any poor and helpless human being comes before we transfer all in one utensil, we just give them in an eco-friendly plates so they can eat at the spot.
Whenever I waste food it’s mainly because I was forced into buying a quantity of something that’s predetermined by the packaging. If I wanted to try a new snack, I’m forced to buy an entire bag and can’t decide the exact amount I want
Americans waste 40% of their food? My god.
They dont know. Pulling numbers out their asses. Maybe some weak study shows.
@@bcamping1 you have better info? Care to share?
@@raak4070 im not american and i waste zero food... Also if you composte, its not waste anymore...kind of
@@bcamping1 no he was asking do you know *any study* that is better
@@bcamping1 Stop the denial bro
Thank you for sharing/producing this video
I never through out expired food, in fact I usually hunt for discounted food items in grocery stores with close to over expiry dates, lol
In the 90's South Korea's citizens had less than 2% responsibility for food waste, now it's 95% today!
In 2005 the government banned food scraps in the bin and in 2013 the dirty water of the processed food to be dumped in the sea.
Every citizen has automatic bins close to their homes that count their food waste.
Where does the excess food go?
- It goes to special process/composting machines that create it to pig food and even reusable energy.
Source: CBC Wasted: The Story of Food Waste. (you can find the over hour long video on their site.)
This topic really reminds me of the movie "The Platform". I recommend you watch it. It is very relevant especially now.
This is why I cook myself and not going to restaurants. I eat all what I buy.
Great video research again!
One problem I find is that finding fresh food in small enough quantities for just one person is really hard. When I buy fresh, no matter how carefully, some of it is going to be going to waste simply because I cannot buy small enough portions. There's also the fact that so much fruit looks excellent but is absolute garbage once you bite in. Zero flavor, or unable to ripen despite you doing everything you're suppose to, it just rots instead. And then it goes in the green bin. It's frustrating that so much of what you buy ends up being basicly inedible when it comes to fresh foods. And even more frustrating- there's less and less different types of local crops being grown so getting local is impossible for certain popular foods. For example, no locally grown strawberries anymore in the local supermarket, or anywhere else. They're just not being grown.
Thank you for this video. It is such an important topic and you covered it incredibly well. Keep up the good work!
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Awesome vid, as usual !
Selling produce products by eaches and not by weight is also a waste generator. When people shop to stretch their dollar, they're going for the biggest zuchini or the heaviest head of lettus, some will inevitably get left behind to spoil.
What's your thoughts on imperfect food or misfits market? They sell food to consumers that have slight imperfections for a reduced price.
3:35 what are walk by losses, and why is it included in "unharvested", when its in my mind rn like creatures plucking some for personal consumption?
Thanks for the good news, in these hard times. Sincerely
When I was in university, I have wrote a research paper on food waste culture. The numbers of waste are truly astonishing.
you wrote a research paper from behind the computer screen. you don't know jack sht.
@@globalmuffin2 what a rude comment lol should he write while standing outside would that make him know more? Where else do you research but a library or computer
The important thing about most psychological tricks (like the one with overbuying products to destroy the illusion of "the last one is bad") is that knowing about the psychological trick can make you immune to it. Consumer psychology has to be something talked about in school, tv and maybe even with notes just above the products themselve. Of course this is unlikely to happen since the government loses money by doing this, but the solution too some oof the problems is already close. We do not to change the system, just to change our minds and anything else will follow with time
there's a really cool app in my country that enables stores to offer the items they couldn't sell during the day for a lower price to others. a lot of bakeries use it to not have to throw away the leftovers
Pramheda spill the beans then what country do you live what is the app called?
@@JoshF710 hr prob *dont* know
My city has a robust compost system but during the summer I opt to bokashi my food waste to make amazing healthy soil. I'm convinced that bokashi and it's bacteria is one part of creating healthy soil a la terra preta.
I would be curious about your examination of Imperfect Foods, Misfits Market, and similar services. Are they actually helping food waste? It sort of seems like they might be selling produce whole that would otherwise be used in things in salad bars, deli counters, or canned/frozen prepared foods.
I tried composting to be more environmentally friendly. Its not going well but I'm gonna keep trying. If the US government would implement some sort of tax write off to everyone who composts I feel like it could make a huge difference.
Great wrk guys thank you
At 0:39 you say 40% of food is wasted in the US.
At 2:07 you show that 16% of food waste happens on the farm.
Combined, this should mean that farms waste 6.4% of all our food.
But at 3:26 you say "33.7% of produce remains unharvested every year". How is that number so much higher? I get these are different studies but that's an extreme difference. I'm very skeptical of how to interpret this last number.
Thank you so much for this video. This is super helpful!
Thank you for deep diving on this subject! I want to be involved with solving this aspect of culture. Thank you for the east to understand breakdown!
Missoula’s in Montana (has a lot of cows) if they shorten the sell by date , they can make more money from selling more milk. They have lots of it.
I didn’t Know that food waste causes pollution with thé decomposition ! Very interesting as always
this is just a claim to reduce food consumption. somebody up there skipped the biology class and thinks that humans are perpetuum mobile.
What does mean perpetuum mobil please ? I don’t understand
@@brunindaphne something that moves for-ever, without requring en-ergy. it is from latin, sorry, perpetual motion
@@globalmuffin2 Oh sorry I should have guess that ! I didn't make the connection. I'm french so my english is not perfect so I thought that was my english fault 😂
@@brunindaphne no problem :)
Thank-you for a well presented and argued video. :-)
Because people aren't concerned on how we buy food and how much we can eat. There's so many people around this world that needs food and need a way to get this wasted food to feed their families. Food waste in grocery stores are way to much before they can sale the first batch is a sold and they throw away food because of the way it looks.
I imagine all the food will be wasted after all the hoarding and people panic buying twenty cans of tuna and 5 gallons of milk 😬 I’m glad many grocery stores have started to crack down on this by limiting the units of food you can buy in one shopping trip.
Working at a buffet, I have seen this first hand. And it is disgusting to watch how much food that we “have to throw away” when the food is still very eatable. We would see homeless people hangout near the garbage cans just to get what they could.
The food regulations in the US seem very confusing and quite shocking. Luckily in the UK, we have some of the best food regulations in the EU. There is a clear difference between 'use by' dates (The date at which the food could begin to spoil, however usually safe to eat 1-2 days after) and 'best before' dates (The date at which food won't be as good quality as it was when it left the factory. However still perfectly edible, can be eaten years after this date for non-perishable goods). Even in the last year, I have seen a huge change in the products within UK supermarkets, such as fruit and veg labeled 'imperfectly perfect' meaning that although it's wonky, it's still perfectly edible. Even a year or two ago, much more of this visually imperfect food would have been wasted, now on the shelves at reduced prices, helping to combat unnecessary food waste. I think the best way to combat food waste is to broaden our horizons with imperfect fruit and vegetables and use our instincts (like people used to). We also need to stop over buying food. Food plates should also be a universal size, which will help people regulate portion control. We should also buy more frozen fruit and vegetables which will last longer and often, have better nutritional value as they are frozen as soon as they are picked, locking in nutrients. In high-income countries, we need to stop taking the wide availability of food for granted and shop in a smart way, start by making a weekly meal plan and making a list. We should also consider eating insects as part of our diet. Already 2 billion people around the world eat insects, in countries such as the UK & US they are deemed to be a pest, this is a psychological barrier which must be changed if we are to limit food waste and carbon emissions. Many insects such as crickets contain more protein and iron per 100g compared to beef. They also have a tiny amount of land and water use. Their abundance makes them a reliable food we should all consider. We should also consider eating 'all' of the animal such as cows lung/heart/liver etc. By doing this we will help to reduce water use and prevent edible meat from being thrown away, just due to the attitude towards it. Overall we need to think about what we are buying, how much we are buying, food portions, tighten food regulations, and relax the rules around visually imperfect food. By doing all of this will all save money, food, water, land use, and improve the looming obesity crisis. We need to stop being so fussy and start trying new/different things! That's all I have to say - Rant over 🤣🤣
Food for thought. Thank you 🙏
bruh 💀
Brilliant video. I pay tribute to the algorithm
Can you look at the imperfect or ugly food box ship services?
I'm beginning to think that the sentence "But A doesn't just magically B" is a signature move of this channel. Which, okay, yes, gotta have a gimmick. I've seen some really nice ones. But these versions:
_"But food doesn't just sprout of the ground and then magically end up in the trash."
"But a tree doesn't just magically grow the moment you use Ecosia to search."_
have a slight touch of "I'm assuming that you just stepped out of the pod you were (magically) grown in and somebody is showing you this video".
There's a company called imperfect foods that try to help address the sub optimal food cosmetic issue. Hope it gets a ton of support
Wait how does this math work? A third of produce never makes it off the farm (3:31), but farms are only responsible for 16% of total food waste (2:15), and two thirds of food waste happens after purchase? Wouldn't that mean no food ever gets eaten? What non-farm places are we getting such huge amounts of food from? Am I missing something obvious here?
A third of what's on the farm. What's left is now 100% of what's in the store. The 2/3 is taken from that total
Finally a good video without misleading facts and wokeness
Very useful video
The people I live with are big food wasters. They actually believe in sell-by dates and they often put the perfectly good food they throw out in the regular bin, not the food waste bin. We've recently started growing our own veg, but they still buy just as much veg as they used to, including the courgettes we've been growing successfully all summer, many of which went to waste because I couldn't eat them all myself.
More people need to know this
What software do you use to make your videos?
A good solution to some of the problem would be food rescue programs and apps.
A store could easily make an app that gives out free food about to go off in that day. Doesen't even have to be free, just cheaper. I know these exist already, but not enough of them and in enough places. This needs to be a thing worldwide in all countries.
And we could use a food sharing app like OLIO to give food out we know we arent going to eat, to others who need it.
Community fridges are great and theres loads of them London for example. Imagine if there was community fridges all over the world
We can do this, guys. It's not the hardest problem to solve that we face. Let's all give it a shot.
Composting, you have to be careful to only compost "compostable waste" (mostly vegetable-stuff, but not processed).
Do etable fruits and vegetables skins count has food waste ?
I think so, but since many of them are covered in pesticides and waxes, they aren't technically all that safe to eat, at least unless you scrub them with salt for a bit.
Can you mention our startup name between documentary
the problem isn't the product but the problem is how we get rid of it. Waste is not a usual thing in nature. Only we humans cause waste.
I mean, the way to get rid of excess food is to preserve it and send it to food insecure regions. It looks a bit like a logistics and distribution issue.
Also, a carcass is the waste other animals create. So are barren, overgrazed, former grasslands. So are decimated prey populations. Humans aren't unique in our ability to kill, take, waste, and destroy, but we are conscious of it and doing it on an enormous scale
Love your videos
thnx for video
how much food did yall throw out for those scenes in background?
does the US not have a separate compost bin? Here in Germany, we seperate all food waste into a separate bin that ends up being composted
They complain about people wasting food.
What about restaurants that throw away food.
Restaurants don't keep food stored very long
They can't.
It's called liability.
Have you ever went dumpster diving behind a restaurant.
It's amazing what's in them things.
I've eaten eggs that was 1 month out of date... I needed eggs and figured you'd be able to tell once you cracked them if they was off. They was fine and I was fine.
I really wish they'd sell 'ugly' food too. Like, just make it slightly cheaper, and the 'perfect' ones slightly mroe expensive to balance out the price. Some people will probably still want the nice looking apples and be willing to pay extra, but others will be happy to save some money and go with the bendy carrot.
A sell by date seems silly. Like... does food suddenly spoil once you've bought it? Or last forever once you've bought it? whut?
I use an app called Too Good To Go. There you can order a 'magic bag' from a variety of businesses and pick it up at the end of the day. They'll put in whatever spoilable food is left. For example fruit and veg from supermarkets, sandwiches and cake from cafes, bread from bakeries, or full meals from restaurants. Usually you're basically getting a 50 to 70% discount on your food. Only downside is that you never quite know what you're getting, so you're limited if you have any dietary restrictions.
There's also a thing called Foodsharing here, a website where you can offer food you have left over to be picked up by others and vice versa, or bring it to a dedicated fridge that anybody can access. I haven't used it in a while, because most of those 'open fridges' are inside buildings that have opening times that often don't work with my schedule. But it's a pretty great thing. There's also volunteers that pick up leftover food from businesses to bring it there. Although I guess bringing it to a food bank instead would make sure those who need food the most have the best chance of getting any.
Also keep a shelf full of freezer boxes, so you can keep any leftovers. Jars work too, for plastic free. Just place the lids on lightly without screwing them.
I'm also way less careful about food spoilage than I probably should be for my own health... (do not try this at home)
True that. It'd be nice if appreciation for food was incorporated more into education. It's not possible for everybody to grow their own food (beyond what can grow in a small pot on a window cill maybe), so it'd be nice if people still had the opportunity to learn about how things grow :)
I don't know a single building on my road that has a private garden for tennants xD I could get an allotment, but waiting lists for those are long afaik.
It's also not just about space. On my old job I was often away for weeks at a time. So no way to water enough.
But I'm not a fan of gardening myself anyway xD I'm sure people who are find a way to stack pots in their rooms to grow some chilli ^^
I'm happy to let other people make my food, I in turn will make other things they need for them. The amazingness of human collaboration that's brought us the internet (among other things) ^__^
Helpful
this is 4 my project
I don't understand who is waisting food . Don't stock pile things that expire . Stockpile dry things and buy what you need for dinner on your way home .
Weekly shopping is so boomer retro . It's like a childhood memory of something my Gran did .
Weekly shopping is so
5:25 nice.