Warning: This post was written without a flag lapel pin (or a lapel).

Today, I’ll be celebrating American independence by attending a family cook out where I’ll fret about uneaten burgers enjoy the good company and tasty food.

Two thoughts before I’m off to BBQ land:

1. Wasting food should not be an American value.

Quite the opposite, not wasting food is very much a traditional American value. Think of American Indians (I’m told that’s the slightly preferred nomenclature), who are renowned for using all parts of a killed animal.

From the battle against starvation in the first North American colonies to the rationing of World War II, Americans have long been careful with their food. While being thrifty with food is more uncommon today, we can still feel that food waste just ain’t right.

2. We’re an independent people, don’t waste food just because others do. You’re better than that. You’re more patriotic than that!

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Happy Independence Day–Love Your Leftovers!

Many in the food safety community believe that tomatoes are not responsible for the salmonella outbreak.

Nearly a month after the initial outbreak and the isolated tomatoes have been removed, people are still getting sick. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has tested 1,700 samples of tomatoes and found zero cases of salmonella. Zilch.

FDA food safety chief Dr. David Acheson said they will now test other produce:

Tomatoes aren’t off the hook. It’s just that there is clearly a need to think beyond tomatoes.

The recent twist in the story makes this earlier FDA statement that they’ll locate the source “in the next few days” comical.

What’s not funny is that the whole mess has cost the food industry about $100 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. And the warning could mean $250 million in losses for farmers and distributors.

Squandered money and a waste of food.

I’m not saying that the FDA has anything but the best intentions–to protect Americans’ health–nor that their job is easy. But they seemed to act with flimsy evidence. People got sick from eating Mexican food and tomatoes are a common ingredient in many Mexican dishes.

I can see how the FDA’s modus operandi might be justifiable. Yet coming on the heels of the largest ever beef recall that, even at the time, we knew was not about protecting Americans from affected meat, it seems like the FDA has developed a quick trigger finger.

What’s your take? Is this approach justifiable if lives are at stake? (I should add that nobody has died from this salmonella outbreak.)

My wife and I moved this past weekend. And again Monday night, when we finally finished cleaning out the old place.

The last item of business was cleaning out the fridge at our old house. In a 10 p.m. frenzy of food waste, we ended up throwing away an embarrassing amount. Here are the highlights lowlights:

1. Condiments really pile up. We had a whole fridge door full of sauces and toppings, including some examples of “one-use waste.” Mint sauce (to go with lamb) comes to mind.

We had a container of yellow mustard with a sell-by date of October 2004. And then there was the Filipino banana sauce that I couldn’t quite bring myself to throw out after the pantry purge. That jar finally saw its demise.

2. I tend to acquire food that I often don’t want or need. We still had that virtually full 2004 mustard because we inherited a big squeeze bottle of French’s after an in-the-park cook out.

I can’t recall how we got a jar of Guinness mustard, but I know that I didn’t buy it. And that it wasn’t that good.

3. Most of us Delay Waste. “Waste delaying” can take the form of saving leftovers you know you won’t eat or leaving bad food in the fridge.

Many friends tell me that they avoid tossing food for a few days, just like the mother in the Today Show piece. Who doesn’t?

This classic guilt avoidance tactic was the reason I hadn’t thrown away that freezerburnt iceberg of orange sherbet. I felt bad that I’d let it get that way and avoided the dirty work of dumping it down the drain.

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We all waste food. That’s because at times, food waste is unavoidable. If you’re at a gathering and the host is throwing away mint sauce, you have two choices: let them toss it or bring the jar home to keep for two years before pitching it. I suppose you could also prepare lamb and serve it with that…but I don’t even like lamb.

The important thing is to try to minimize waste without becoming a fanatic (easier said than done).

Fresh from the UK comes this food waste horror story: European Union sizing requirements required a British wholesaler to throw away 5,000 kiwis. Here’s a slightly less sensationalistic view of the story.

An inspection of the fruit found that a number of the batch weighed 58 grams, with 62 grams the low-end limit. Tim Down, the kiwis’ owner, estimated that the diameter of the offending fruit were 1 millimeter too small.

Even worse, EU law prohibited Down from giving away the kiwis, and he faced a fine of several thousand pounds if he did. (He was allowed to ship them back to the importer or turn them to juice.) Down echoed my thoughts on the matter:

They are perfectly fit to eat. These regulations come at a time when rising food prices are highlighted and we’re being forced to throw away perfectly good food.

I understand the need for inspections and regulations, but this rule seems ridiculous. The BBC piece reports that the European Commission (the EU executive branch) is looking into relaxing its rules on shape and minimum size. How about changing the one that prohibits donating these fruits and vegetables?!

Taking a step back, heterogeneous waste happens all the time with produce. Harvesters won’t pick certain crops that are the wrong size or shape, while other crops are weeded out post harvest. These occurences don’t make the news because the loss occurs at the farm or packing plant, not after it reaches wholesalers (hence, no opportunity for a convenient photo shoot).

Both articles alluded to commonly culled produce: curved cucumbers and straight bananas. I occasionally see a straight banana, but I can’t remember seeing a curved cuke. I suspect that if I grew my own or went to the farmer’s market (more than once every blue moon), I would.

What’s fueling this waste by uniformity? Is it a trickle down from consumers’ buying habits? Is it the food industry’s perception of consumer behavior? Or is it due to supermarkets’ desire for uniformity and perfect produce displays?

Here’s a neat idea: six Seattle area families held a contest to see who could cut the most weight from their garbage. The winning family trimmed its trash by 82 percent in just six weeks.

Sure, it helps that King County allows residents to put food waste in the yard waste bin that is collected, but those with a yard can start their own bin. And city folks can use this indoor composting contraption or start a worm bin.

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Waste Aware Scotland has its own Love Food, Hate Waste site to match the one for England and Wales.

While the advice on use-by dates is a bit cautious, the meal planning and portioning tips are better. Plus, you’ve gotta love the cheesy posters on offer. Actually, this one’s pretty cool.

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Here’s an engrossing tale: A group of Kentucky band students traveling in China attends a traditional Suzhou banquet. Their teacher respectfully describes this “cultural train wreck” and the ensuing food waste (after comparing US and Chinese eating habits and recalling her childhood Chinese(-American) food experiences).
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As is the case in much of the developing world, poor storage and transportation technology leads to poor prices for the farmer and vast food waste in Tanzania, as this article describes.

I was reading this impassioned opinion piece on Philadelphia food security, I found myself nodding along. Then I got to the bottom and read this little disclaimer:

Meghan McCracken is the Public Relations Associate at the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger. She and her housemates run an underground secret café, serving handmade local seasonal and/or rescued food to benefit local non-profits.

An underground, secret café(?!) sounded fun, but what really grabbed my attention was that it served rescued food. A few minutes later, I was on the phone with Meghan, asking all sorts of questions about what they call, appropriately, the Secret Café.

The second Sunday of the month, the six housemates of the West Philadelphia home host a community brunch. They post flyers, clear out the first floor, set up tables and start cooking a set menu. For a suggested $6 donation–after covering costs, the money goes to several non-profits–guests get a full meal from a variety of sources. Meghan told me:

We serve the food that we eat, basically. Things that we believe in. Bulk food, local food, things that aren’t processed and food recovered from dumpsters.

A typical brunch might include pancakes made from rescued flour topped with local strawberries. Three of the six housemates dumpster dive and recover everything from flour and sugar to fruits and vegetables.

We make people aware of that, so if they’re not comfortable with it, that’s fine.

Refreshingly, the group isn’t too worried about health codes and legal issues.

It’s just a community brunch and we’re asking for donations, so hopefully that wouldn’t be an issue.

This Sunday tradition is approaching its one-year anniversary. While it’s not an idea for everyone, I think it’s a clever way to utilize food, fund non-profits and build community. If you’re in Philly and want to experience the Secret Café, contact Meghan at meghanbmccracken at gmail dot com.

When people ask me how they can reduce their personal food waste, I often point them to five basic tips.

But this recent piece in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette provides more specific advice on how best to use your fridge and handle food. For instance, this pointer:

Expiration dates are most often “sell by” or “best by” dates rather than “don’t use after” dates. They ensure quality rather than safety, partly because when food goes bad it often has a lot more to do with how it’s handled once you take it home and when you open the package…

Or this bit on mold:

If the mold is black, throw it out. If it’s blue, green or white, cut (or scoop) it out down to about an inch away from the moldy area.

Most interesting to me were the refrigerator tips. Of course, as dedicated readers know, Wasted Food can offer more specific cheese storage advice.

Here are three things I learned from this article:

1. Use older eggs for baking, not breakfast (eating them plain)

2. Butter absorbs flavors easily, so keep it separate from other foods

3. We store condiments in the fridge door for good reason, but shouldn’t keep milk there.

What did you take from the article? If you have wisdom to impart on avoiding waste please share it with us on the Tips page. Or if you write a blog post on the topic, I’d love to pass it along.

In case you missed it, here is today’s Today segment on food waste that featured yours truly:

It was downright thrilling to see the issue of food waste on national TV. And it was fun, yet surreal watching myself play the role of “talking head” as I experienced my 15 minutes 15 seconds 8 seconds of fame.

More than anything, I’m excited to see food waste receive the attention it deserves. I’m hoping the piece brings further coverage and nudges the issue more into the national dialogue.

I was really happy the piece illustrated food rescue, by accompanying City Harvest on a local pickup and drop off. More people should know what wonders food recovery groups work (and, I’d add, that they exist nationwide).

And I really liked the neat Madison Square Garden graphic–that was one of those ‘picture says a thousand words’ moments.

The homemade pesto mom raised an interesting point about saving leftovers only to throw them away two days later. If you find yourself doing that, try planning a leftover night, cooking half the recipe or serving smaller portions.

Also, I wonder how long that nice, guilt-delaying woman cleaned her fridge before the film crew arrived. I know it’d take me a while to make mine presentable.

Most of all, I’m wondering how much candy it took to bribe that little boy to say, “I don’t want this pasta.” Oh, and I loved how they used that fun font to spell out his quote (pictured).

Anyway, I could go on for hours, but I’m curious: What did you think of the piece? What did it do well or not well?

Back in May, the Non-Consumer Advocate (Katy) threw down a “Waste No Food Challenge” on her blog. Since my life is one big “Waste No Food Challenge,” I loved it.

Well, Katy updated us on her progress and noted that while she’s been saving her leftovers, she often just has too much of each dinner left over–prompting this question:

Why do we cook like army chefs?

The most logical course of action with meal prep is to cook up a very large amount all at once…Logic, schmogic, Spock. For my family, It’s just more food to throw out.

Two conclusions here:

1. Supermarket pricing often prompts us to waste.

Katy writes that she’s learning to buy the “right” amount of food. It’ll save you money, even though it’s not the best value. So, instead of buying the family pack of ground beef with a better per-pound price, she bought two smaller packages.

2. Halve the recipe!

All that dividing of fractions may hurt your head, but the pain will subside and the glory of not wasting food will linger. Math aside, be aware that most recipes are intended to serve four to six people.

Accordingly, we often cut recipes in half (or thirds!) in my two-person household. After all, why cook for an orchestra if you only have a duo?

Don’t waste bananas–they might not be around much longer (at least not at $0.49/lb.)

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This just in: Australians waste $6 billion worth of food. Maybe it’s time Aussies *not* ‘put an extra shrimp on the barbie.’

Apparently those in the Australian capital of Canberra waste the most. Fortunately, Australia’s first food recovery operation, OzHarvest, operates there, in addition to Sydney.

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Time magazine recently ran a nice summary of the San Francisco curbside food scraps collection.

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Rising food prices are encouraging individuals and restaurants to waste less (at least in Wilmington, N.C.). In the article, James Bain, executive chef at Wilmington’s Dockside Restaurant, sounds like he’s rehearsing for a guest post on this site:

The rubber spatula is the most important piece of equipment. Every bucket of sauce must be completely emptied. Wasting food is a pet peeve of mine and also a sign of a poorly run restaurant.

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Finally, if I read this correctly, every ton of food waste has the same impact on global warming as a London-New York flight.