What did you learn about dietary choices from using the footprint calculator? Now imagine that you could translate what you learned into an effective societal policy on food- what would it be? And how would this policy effect the need to alleviate world hunger?
925 million people on earth do not have enough to eat according to the FAO [Food and Agricultural Organization]. That's almost 1 in 7 inhabitants of our planet!
Food & Hunger >
Food meant for display
Imagine yourself walking into a supermarket with aisles lined with everything from shiny red apples to containers of salad. This display of color and flavor is often all we see when searching through the rows for tomorrows lunch or breakfast. What most don't look for is the small number on the side or bottom of all these products, the expiry date. The thought of when something is going to expire is something that seldom comes to a shoppers mind, but why? The reason why you never have to worry about your cheese or milk expiring in a couple of days is because supermarkets ensure that food never stays on the shelf to a certain point. Most would assume that this food is donated to local homeless shelters or perhaps a food bank but the sad truth is that the majority of it ends up in the dumpster behind the store. This means piles upon piles of perfectly good food is wasted just because it is due to expire soon. This wastefulness is what is truly frustrating, when there are people going hungry just a few blocks down and yet fully edible food from fresh blueberries to cartons o f milk are tossed away like no one wants them. This is why I think large supermarkets should start finding uses for this soon to expire produce. There's no reason not to, as it's good PR for them and who wouldn't want to be seen as the supermarket that donates to the homeless shelters and food banks.
I agree, the supermarkets shouldn't just waste this food. Before it expires, if it's good and still on the shelves, they should have a section outside of the store where homeless people can just walk by and grab some of the food. I don't think that they should go to food banks though because if they are already close to expiring, the time it takes to give it to the food bank, they might already be expired.
I agree with your point. Many stores wastefully throw away their produce that is still edible but not flashy, and I feel that doing so negatively impacts the store and the community. I suggest that the food be donated to homeless shelters, or that it be donated to public schools, so kids are able to enjoy a healthier diet.