Friday Buffet

While I just learned he is running for President, former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel just jumped to the top of my list as the only politician who laments wasted food. In the same fantasy world in which Gravel lives, I hope to be appointed as America’s first Food Waste Czar. But I’ll settle for Secretary of Food Waste. 

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Good news for friends of anaerobic digestion, the process of transforming food waste into energy: Joan Ruddock, a British MP and a leader of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), told environmentalists that the government viewed anaerobic digestion as the “best process” for handling food waste. Expect to see more UK AD action after Defra releases a protocol next year.

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There are a few food waste tidbits in this NY Times article on locally-grown carrots.  While most baby carrots are made from the Sugar Snax variety, a New York grower tried, without much success, to make them from his Nantes variety.

Ms. Karp and Mr. Ball went to Mr. Dygert’s processing plant to see if the test carrots could be turned into babies. It was a bust…That day, they lost about 70 percent of each carrot.

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This Santa Cruz Sentinel article discusses cruise ship food logistics, including how waste is handled: 

Food waste is ground into a pulp, mixed with waste paper, dried and burned for energy. Within strict environmental regulations, some of it can be turned into pellets and discharged into the ocean, where it becomes fish food.

And you thought dog chow was the only shady pet food…