What they’re thinking: Iowa State professor talks food waste

Imagine going to the grocery store, buying four bags of groceries, then coming home and throwing one away.

Now open your eyes. Because that's what actually happens in the average American household, according to Iowa State University Professor Ruth Litchfield.

'It's estimated that the typical person wastes 20 pounds of food a month,” said Litchfield, who specializes in food science and human nutrition.

One of her classes recently expressed an interest in food waste and dove into the research - looking into the size of the problem; the impact on the planet, people, and pocketbooks; and what consumers can do.

Q:

How big of a deal is this?

A:

The problem is huge. When you consider that 40 percent of all the food we produce in this country is wasted, it's a large issue. The other thing we found interesting is that most people think food waste occurs out in the field and during the processing and before it hits the shelf … That's not the case. Forty four percent of the waste occurs at home. Almost half of it is because of what's in our refrigerators.

Q:

What type of food most often ends up in the trash?

A:

Mostly perishables - vegetables, dairy and grains are the top three. But it's not just the head of lettuce or the fresh cherries you forgot about in the refrigerator. Another thing is leftovers. ... Leftovers are a challenge.

Q:

If 44 percent of the food waste occurs at home, what accounts for the rest?

A:

Thirty-three percent is coming from our retail side - that would include things like your grocery stores as well as restaurants. The rest occurs during actual production, harvesting, processing.

Q:

What is the impact of food waste?

A:

We have a lot of hunger, not only in the world but in this country. It's been estimated that if we could decrease our food waste here in the United States, we could feed another 25 million people. And, when we waste food, we're also wasting all the resources that were used to produce that food. It's estimated that 25 percent of our fresh water supply is wasted because of food that is wasted.

Q:

What has been done or is currently being done?

A:

Restaurants are changing some of their practices to help with this issue. So portion sizes are being decreased - not only from a health standpoint, but also from this standpoint of being efficient with what our resources are. Many restaurants will do the half portion and smaller plate size to help with this issue. Other things, like when you go to a restaurant where there's maybe chips and salsa or bread served ahead of time, they are asking, do you want those first of all, and if so how much. ...

Q:

What about at grocery stores?

A:

'Sell by,” 'best by,” and 'purchase by” labels can be confusing ... The 'sell by” date is used by grocery stores as a means of tracking their inventory. It has nothing to do with an expiration at all. The 'best by” or 'use by,” those are quality indicators.

Q:

What more can be done?

A:

We have this societal mind-set that more is better, bigger is better, or I want to get my money's worth. And so that's something we need to get away from. If we have more, it's more likely to be wasted. I hate to say it, but our food supply also is so cheap. Relative to the rest of the world, our food supply is very reasonably priced. Maybe if it was more expensive, we wouldn't waste as much. If you look at the types of foods that are wasted, the more expensive foods are less likely to be wasted.