# Good food being thrown away **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637 "2016-06-28T18:15:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/21 "2016-06-29T06:42:42Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > There is a much larger problem here than just food wastage; it is the fact that a major corporation with thousands of stores and a revenue comparable to a middling European nation can’t (won’t) pay its employees a sufficient wage to buy fresh, healthy food. Giving them the scraps of what other people decline to eat is far from addressing that inequality. Wait a minute. Surely you are not suggesting that gross revenue tells us how much a corporation can pay it’s employees. I am not suggesting we start, for the nth time, a debate about Walmart pay practices, but let’s just be clear on that point. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/22 "2016-06-29T07:59:02Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > snip > > The notion of taking damaged or misshapen produce and reallocating it to other uses, like feeding hogs, is logistically impractical, especially for a high volume, low margin business like Wal-Mart, which seeks to maximize labor efficiency so they can put your local supermarket out of business and hire the unemployed workers for minimum wage. And no commercial hog farm feeds their animals on ‘table scraps’; they get a scientifically determined feed product to maximize growth, nor would that be an efficient use of food that is otherwise suitable for human consumption. > > snip > > Stranger minor quibble, or at least I think so. When I was in basic training at Ft. Knox, all the chow halls had metal trash cans specifically for food only waste, which was then picked up by a single specific truck and sent to the (a single perhaps?) local hog farmer. I don’t know what the monetary (if any) compensation either way was or what the total costs of the operation was either. However that example merely serves to highlight one of the issues brought forth elsewhere in the thread; the blemished food being discarded by Walmart is far to distributed no matter the over-all amount, to be economically feasible to collect and re-sell or donate to anyone. Well, donation to local food banks or other charities perhaps, but some places have liability laws holding the donor responsible for any ill effects from the donated food. That’s the reason the restaurant/caterer I worked at many many years ago stopped donating excess food and started throwing it out instead. So that may also play a part. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/23 "2016-06-29T14:10:00Z")
My local grocery store has started putting up signs to this effect. Let me see if I can find one… You can kind of see it in this article. [http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/morning\_call/2016/05/hannaford-misfits-gives-ugly-looking-fruits.html](http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/morning_call/2016/05/hannaford-misfits-gives-ugly-looking-fruits.html) They call them “The Misfits” and they are encouraging everyone to buy them, that they are just as good, and they are being sold at a discount. Here is an article about it from our local paper. Please don’t stalk me now that I basically have identified exactly where I shop. > **[Hannaford sells 'misfit' fruit, veggies](https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Hannaford-selling-misfit-fruit-and-vegetables-7464431.php)** > > In a trial program launched Thursday at the 900 Central Ave. store, the supermarket now... I think it’s an awesome idea and have been buying misfits when I need them. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/24 "2016-06-29T14:38:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Stranger On A Train** > (Believe me, you do not want to know where ‘vegetable’ oil comes from.) Yes I do! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/25 "2016-06-29T14:48:51Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Yes I do! You really don’t. I’ll say this: “vegetable oil” is to actual vegetables as rape is to marriage. The extraction process, hydrogenation, and the base material it is extracted from (the brown-gray sludge found at the bottom of a grain silo from rotted corn and soya) would be enough to put Jabba the Hutt off his feed. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/26 "2016-06-29T14:53:23Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Yes I do! My guess is a whole lot of moldy, nasty soybeans that they couldn’t really use for anything else, but that when ground up and solvent-extracted, yield perfectly good oil. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/27 "2016-06-29T15:01:26Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > You really don’t. > > I’ll say this: “vegetable oil” is to actual vegetables as rape is to marriage. Especially true for Canola Oil (aka rapeseed oil). ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/28 "2016-06-29T16:03:24Z")
> [@bump](#): > > My guess is a whole lot of moldy, nasty soybeans that they couldn’t really use for anything else, but that when ground up and solvent-extracted, yield perfectly good oil. Well, for very loose values of “perfectly good oil” anyway. For dressings and cooking, I’ll stick with my cold pressed olive oil and avocado oil, thank you. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/29 "2016-06-29T16:22:25Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, for very loose values of “perfectly good oil” anyway. For dressings and cooking, I’ll stick with my cold pressed olive oil and avocado oil, thank you. > > Stranger [maybe not…](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jan/13/extra-virginity-tom-mueller-review) ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/30 "2016-06-29T16:40:15Z")
The trend as grocery stores here is to process fresh fruits and veggies somewhat and then sell them at much higher prices. They not only have a fresh-squeezed juice bar, but also containers of cubed melon and pineapple, shredded carrots, mixed salad greens, and the like. I always assumed that at least come of the produce that is used for this purpose is the stuff that’s perfectly good but ugly. Am I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/31 "2016-06-29T16:47:33Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > [maybe not…](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jan/13/extra-virginity-tom-mueller-review) Yeah, I don’t buy Bertolli or frankly any imported oils. Having the good fortune to live in California, I can buy locally sourced fruit and nut oils. Yet another reason of many I am never going back to the Midwest, and I’m sure not going to cook with the sludge I used to dig out of the bottom of a grain silo with a muck shovel. **Neil McCauley:** You see me doing thrill-seeker liquor store holdups with a “Born to Lose” tattoo on my chest? **Vincent Hanna:** No, I do not. **Neil McCauley:** Right. I am never goin’ back. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/32 "2016-06-29T16:48:28Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > The trend as grocery stores here is to process fresh fruits and veggies somewhat and then sell them at much higher prices. They not only have a fresh-squeezed juice bar, but also containers of cubed melon and pineapple, shredded carrots, mixed salad greens, and the like. > > I always assumed that at least come of the produce that is used for this purpose is the stuff that’s perfectly good but ugly. Am I wrong? That might actually be the case. I know a few grocery stores that make their own guacamole. Since avocadoes are expensive, that would be a good way to recoup losses from ones that are too ugly to sell but still good to eat. ---
**Author:** ![moldmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@moldmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moldmonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/33 "2016-06-29T17:16:46Z")
Now that individuals and companies are more or less used to recycling aluminum, paper, etc., I wonder if it would be possible for the waste food from stores, restaurants, and homes to be separated and composted. We could use the existing garbage/recycling infrastructure. The trucks are already running by these locations. The truck would need a separate section to hold the food and the dump would need a separate area for the compost piles but they would have a sellable product at the end. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/34 "2016-06-29T18:04:38Z")
Factory-packaged fruits and vegetables are packaged in an inert gas, usually nitrogen. That’s why bagged lettuce lasts so long. 😉 Items packed at the store are going to have a much shorter shelf-life because they’re not going to have the capability of doing that. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/35 "2016-06-29T18:24:34Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > You really don’t. > > I’ll say this: “vegetable oil” is to actual vegetables as rape is to marriage. The extraction process, hydrogenation, and the base material it is extracted from (the brown-gray sludge found at the bottom of a grain silo from rotted corn and soya) would be enough to put Jabba the Hutt off his feed. > > Stranger I know it’s gross but frankly anyone who eats meat really has nothing to complain about how anything vegetable is cooked. I mean, one look at the meat processing industry should be enough to turn anyone off meat, but yet we keep on eating it. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/36 "2016-06-29T19:49:15Z")
> [@moldmonkey](#): > > Now that individuals and companies are more or less used to recycling aluminum, paper, etc., I wonder if it would be possible for the waste food from stores, restaurants, and homes to be separated and composted. We could use the existing garbage/recycling infrastructure. The trucks are already running by these locations. The truck would need a separate section to hold the food and the dump would need a separate area for the compost piles but they would have a sellable product at the end. That article that the OP posted talked about how the sad guy in the article had to eat ramen, but was throwing unsold produce into compost bins in the back of the Wal-Mart. So right there, in a rather scare-tacticky article, we have proof some Wal-Marts compost their unsold produce. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/37 "2016-06-29T19:56:35Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, for very loose values of “perfectly good oil” anyway. For dressings and cooking, I’ll stick with my cold pressed olive oil and avocado oil, thank you. > > Stranger Considering that something like 85% of all soybeans grown are processed into meal and oil, it’s unlikely that silo-scrapings are much of an issue. ---
**Author:** ![moldmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@moldmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moldmonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/38 "2016-06-29T20:01:30Z")
> [@](#): > > That article that the OP posted talked about how the sad guy in the article had to eat ramen, but was throwing unsold produce into compost bins in the back of the Wal-Mart.] Glaad to hear that. It would be nice to see it more wide spread to include more businesses and households. Individual households are a big part of the problem. I know when we were composting the amount of garbage we set out reduced dramtically. Like I said it could be piggybacked on the garbage infrastructure and if available as a curbside service most people would take advantage of it. The change in the number of people recycling in my lifetime is amazing. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/39 "2016-06-29T21:10:00Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > That might actually be the case. I know a few grocery stores that make their own guacamole. Since avocadoes are expensive, that would be a good way to recoup losses from ones that are too ugly to sell but still good to eat. I’d be surprised if any chain grocery store is actually making their guacamole in house. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637/40 "2016-06-30T14:05:32Z")
> [@treis](#): > > I’d be surprised if any chain grocery store is actually making their guacamole in house. Why? They already make stuff like bread, roast chickens, tortillas, cookies, cakes, potato salad, etc… Guacamole is a lot easier than any of the above, and if your only other option is to just throw it away, rather than give it another day or two of potential shelf-life for sale, why not? I doubt that handful of limes, tomatoes, garlic, peppers and onions costs much of anything, even if fresh, and if they’re smart, they’ll cherry pick the about-to-be-unsaleable ones there as well. I’ll take a look the next time I’m at my local Fiesta grocery; if anyone would make fresh guacamole in-house, it would be them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-food-being-thrown-away/758637.md?page=3)