# How much food is thrown away?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-food-is-thrown-away/307914
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 12, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-food-is-thrown-away/307914 "2005-06-12T01:46:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-food-is-thrown-away/307914/1 "2005-06-12T01:46:51Z")
Last week at work I was wondering how much food the average family in the U.S.of A. toss’ away each year. This includes food that is cooked, served but not eaten, and food that is purchased and stored in the fridge or pantry, and for one reason or another is allowed to become unfit for human consumtion and therefore is thrown away.
My guess was that it could be a few tons per family, though I have no concrete proof of that.
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### Author:  [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-food-is-thrown-away/307914/2 "2005-06-12T01:59:39Z")
I’m not sure if this actually addresses the intent of your question, but I once read somewhere (I’ll see if I can find a reliable cite) that Americans throw away a whopping 96 _billion_ pounds of food a year. When you consider the fact that one fourth of the world’s population doesn’t get enough to eat, the contention that our actions constitute a crime against humanity is, I feel, easily justified.
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### Author:  [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-food-is-thrown-away/307914/3 "2005-06-12T02:05:27Z")
> [@Washoe](#):
>
> I’ll see if I can find a reliable cite.
[Yup.](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=americans+throw+away+96+billion+pounds+food&btnG=Search)
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-food-is-thrown-away/307914/4 "2005-06-12T17:26:28Z")
Well, in our house…
chickens love veggie peelings, and get egg shells to give back calcium that egglaying takes out of their system. Dog [renamed Swage, fitting for a dog in a house consisting of an exnavy machinist mate, an ex machinist and a blacksmith=)] gets table scraps, and mrAru takes leftover dinner to work the next day for lunch/any leftovers get packaged in disposaware and frozen for future meals. We really don’t like wasting food around here - it is hard enough getting by from paycheck to paycheck to waste it.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-food-is-thrown-away/307914/5 "2005-06-12T18:50:35Z")
As I recall from previous times I have seen this question; yes American families throw away a pretty good deal, but previous to getting to the family nothing is wasted. So, you can worry about the kids in Somalia or you can worry about whether there is really cow brain in your hot dog–both might be valid.
Good luck to thee.
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-food-is-thrown-away/307914/6 "2005-06-12T20:32:31Z")
It’s not just at your house that food is wasted - my brother works at a grocery store in the produce department, and cleaning up the pallets when they come in can result in a bit of loss… then you routinely have to patrol the shelves and remove spoilt produce.
There’s apparently something called a ‘shrink target’, where the produce manager can get a bonus if he/she manages to match what’s coming in in shipments to what’s going out in sales to within X%.
I imagine you lose a certain amount when picking, packing, shipping, routing, shipping again, repacking, etc. at each step.