Washington, D.C. – Forty percent of food across the food supply system in the United States is never eaten— damaging the environment, costing consumers money, and wasting an opportunity to reduce hunger.
In response to the staggering amount of food wasted in the United States every year, Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Cory Booker, D-N.J., to introduce comprehensive legislation to reduce food waste in stores and restaurants, at schools and institutions, on farms, and in American homes.
The Food Recovery Act – which has been introduced by U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, in the House of Representatives – will address food waste across the food supply chain.
“This bill will aid the farmers, schools and groups in Oregon and across the country already working to put perfectly good food onto the plates of hungry Americans and keep it out of landfills,” Wyden said.
“By reversing the notion that “ugly” fruits and vegetables are inedible, and by clarifying expiration date labels so they make sense, my colleagues and I are working to reduce food waste and hunger at the same time.”
The Food Recovery Act will:
· Reduce food waste at the consumer level through the inclusion of the Food Date Labeling Act to standardize confusing food date labels
· Reduce food wasted in schools by encouraging cafeteria’s to purchase lower-price “ugly” fruits and vegetables, and by expanding grant programs that educate students about food waste and recovery
· Reduce wasted food throughout the federal government through the creation of an Office of Food Recovery to coordinate federal efforts, and by requiring companies that contract with the federal government to donate surplus food to organizations such as food banks and soup kitchens
· Reduce wasted food going to landfills by encouraging composting as a conservation practice eligible for support under USDA’s conservation programs
· Reduce wasted food through research by directing the USDA to develop new technologies to increase the shelf life of fresh food, and by requiring the USDA to establish a standard for how to estimate the amount of wasted food at the farm level
The legislation is supported by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, the Natural Resources Defense Council, United Technologies Corporation, the World Wildlife Fund, and Feeding America.
