WASTING FOOD

I hadn’t anticipated the debate going on in the comments section about “Are They Really Thankful.” The posting is about perfectly good food being thrown away because it was past the expiration date. I consider that a lack of gratitude and a waste of perfectly good food.

I have debated getting back into this discussion with another post, but find the waste of food in America to be astounding. I agree that there are unsafe foods both packaged and unpackaged. But I also believe that one of the worse things foisted upon the public by the government is the “use by” date on packages. Most Americans see that as the time to get rid of it. You are free to take this with a grain of salt. I am not trained in this field at all. Everything I have to say is opinion, but opinion from experience.

I depend upon the local Food Bank. Almost everything that comes into the Food bank is past its “use by” date. The only thing that isn’t past due is fresh produce brought in by farmer and growers. What they bring is usually the gleanings. The items left over after the best has gone to market. My Food Bank had received apples, potatoes, onions, pears and even bananas – once. Nearly all have spots and bruises. I grew up in a home that had a very large backyard garden. It would be called an organic garden today. It was fertilized with chicken manure. There were no sprays – at least none that dad every used. He just did what his father did – panted his garden and trusted God for the harvest. It was an ancient approach.

Nearly everything we harvested had something wrong – bruises, spots, and parts eaten by birds or wild rabbits. You often need chemicals to keep food looking perfect. My parents were never bothered by any of these blemishes. They simply cut off the bad parts and we ate what we had.

I do the same with things I get from the Food Bank, They get a great deal of food from local grocers, but it always comes to us when the law says they can no longer keep it on their shelves. It is always passed the “use by” date. Admittedly it is not always very much past that date. It depends on how long it has been stored before we get it. We get bread delivered to The Home from the Food Bank on Tuesdays. The “use by” date has passed. We pick up bread on Wednesdays from Oroweat. The due date has passed. I used to go to the outlets of bakeries to buy at a cheaper price what they called day old bread. It wasn’t all that unusual to see a little mold on some parts of the bread before it can all be used. I say, pick the mold off. The rest is good. Shocking isn’t it.

Back in the ancient of days when I taught in a Bible college in Canada, one student was the night manager at a local McDonalds. As part of closing he was required to throw everything away that had already been cooked. He was not to give it away – only throw it away. There were times he brought it back to give away to students. He could have lost his job for that act.

The homeless know the restaurants that throw food away and do what they can to dumpster dive for that food. To keep them from getting it most dumpsters are locked away from the public. Those establishments are required to throw it away rather than give it to someone who needs it. That is waste.

I have and will continue to eat many items that are passed their “use by” date. Bad food has a smell or a taste. That is the warning. not when some government agency has decided we should not eat it any longer.

I liked this quote from an article referred to me by Cartoon Character.

“British households throw away 8.3 million tons of food and drink a year, with an estimated five million tons of that amount still being perfectly edible. Every day, 1.3million unopened yogurt pots are dumped, as well as five million potatoes, a million loaves of bread, a million slices of ham, and 440,000 ready meals.”

I am not trying to sway anyone from his or her eating practice. I want to acknowledge the waste we create by law that only Food Banks are permitted to redistribute. If it is bad for Americans to eat, then why are we distributing it to the poor? It must be part of a plan to eliminate the poor. My days are number — but then whose isn’t.