Category Archives: Food Safety

Friday Buffet

Here’s a look inside the food-waste-to-energy plant in Oakland. Hey Bay Area folks, keep your oyster shells, rags and rocks out of the compost! — — Using watermelon cast-offs to make fuel? Seriously? I thought watermelon was about 99% water? And which have more energy–original or seedless? Of course, it’d be great if we weren’t […]

August 28, 2009 | Also posted in Farm, Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, Household, Supermarket, Technology | Comments closed

Count me…In? Out?

We all have those fridge mysteries. Count On It labels are intended to solve those by reminding you when you opened a jar or bottle. The labels let you scratch off the day and month (what–no time of day?!) to eliminate the guesswork and possibly reduce the waste from unknown food safety. Lyndsey Young, a.k.a. […]

August 5, 2009 | Also posted in Household, International | Comments closed

Handy and Tasty

I recently came across Still Tasty, and I give it two thumbs up. The site provides a reference for how long food will stay both safe and, yes, tasty. In doing so, it strikes a nice balance between providing official information and realism. Their take on expiration dates is spot on. And the Keep it […]

July 8, 2009 | Also posted in Household, Technology | Comments closed

Write to Debbie?

The Little Debbie Saga continues… Last week I wrote about a Little Debbie delivery vehicle that tipped over and the shenanigans that led to its contents being thrown away. Whiel perhaps we should have seen this coming, given their choice of transport, opinions differed on whether or not the cake company wanted to donate the goods to […]

June 11, 2009 | Also posted in Food Recovery | Comments closed

Selling “Sell-By” Down the River

The Brits have proposed yet another innovative idea for reducing food waste: ban sell-by dates.  As part of the War on Waste campaign, Britain’s Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn proposed the elimination of these “sell-by” dates while keeping true expiration dates to avoid confusion. Many consumers see the dates aimed at retailers and just throw items away. What’s more, […]

June 10, 2009 | Also posted in International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Taking One for the Team

CNET Asia blogger Michael Tan raises an interesting question, albeit in a confrontational manner: If you care about the environment and not wasting food, should you buy the container of milk closer to its expiration date? Robin Shreeves from the Mother Nature Network runs with the question, applying it to various supermarket sections. Her main […]

April 21, 2009 | Also posted in Personal, Supermarket | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Eureka! Folks in that California town are thinking about installing a digester to turn food waste to energy. — — Word out of England is that some pols want to ban “buy one, get one free” deals. The Liberal-Democrats’ rationale is that stores are luring people to buy more food than they need, causing unnecessary […]

March 13, 2009 | Also posted in Friday Buffet, International, Supermarket, Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

Singing Toward Food Safety

A frequent question I get is ‘how can I avoid food waste?’ One part of the answer I don’t talk about enough is proper food storage. Today, I came across this motherlode of food safety resources, courtesy of Clemson University. Wow. For instance, there’s this general guide to freezing prepared foods or an indexed site […]

January 28, 2009 | Posted in Food Safety | Comments closed

Improving Expiration Dates

Many in the supermarket industry look forward to the days when all items have RFID tags. These tiny transmitters would essentially eliminate the need for check out registers, dramatically cutting stores’ labor costs. A new kind of RFID tag that University of Manchester (UK) researchers are developing could help reduce waste. The tags would be […]

September 25, 2008 | Also posted in Household, Supermarket | Comments closed

Disastrous Waste

WF reader Bess recently wrote in to discuss food recovery in the wake of natural disasters, particularly hurricanes like Ike. It’s an tricky topic, as storms create both a real need for food and plenty of food waste from power loss.  Stores are often forced to throw away all perishable foods. Even after they regain power, […]

September 19, 2008 | Also posted in International, Supermarket | Comments closed