Unhealthy Donations–an oxymoron?

This weekend, I received a thought-provoking comment from Kathy about the whole Little Debbie’s snafu. I thought she raised such an interesting question that I wanted to get other readers’ reaction to it. Here’s what she wrote:

To call Little Debbie snacks “food” is a real stretch. I love an occasional Swiss Roll as much as the next girl, but I think the folks who are going to food banks to replenish their larder could probably do without more of this kind of sugar and trans-fat laden junk food.

A few thoughts and then I’ll eagerly await your comments: 

Nutty Bars. photo by bunchofpants via creative commons–I can see both sides of the coin on this one. So don’t hesitate to chime in.

–I think Kathy’s line of thinking quickly gets into dicey territory. Who gets to decide what’s best for everyone? It’d be great if food banks were stocked with local, organic foods, but that’s unlikely. Nor would all of the food bank customers want mostly fresh foods.

–I’ve heard many a food bank employee say that it’s nice to be able to give out some sweets, as they can provide a treat for people who lead hard lives. While they may be more “food-like substance,” than food, to quote Michael Pollan, Little Debbie’s products certainly qualify as sweets.

–On the other hand, eating food that will bring health problems isn’t great for anyone. And given that the cheapest calories tend to be the least healthy, it’s likely that many food bank customers are already eating corn syrup or trans-fat-laden items.

June 15, 2009 | Posted in Food Recovery | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

On Wednesday, I wrote about a move in Britain to make expiration dates clearer as part of the “war on waste.” Here’s news of another battle in the war: waste-to-energy.

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Also from the UK (I have to learn another language or something), we learn that an increase in people living alone means more food waste.

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Bon Appetit with a press release highlighting their food waste reduction. Not just from trayless, but also within the kitchens. On the trayless topic, though, I hadn’t heard this nugget:

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education predicts that most of the nation’s 4,000 colleges and universities will institute trayless dining within the next five years.

Well…that would be nice!

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Here’s a nice piece by Pete Wells that incorporates cooking, thrift, the economy and, of course, waste. I could relate to pretty much everything in the essay, except the eye-popping New York City numbers. Not sure which is worse–the $14 gallon of milk or the $35 whole chicken.

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The AP story on San Francisco’s mandatory recycling provided this useful context:

Many cities, including Pittsburgh and San Diego, require residents to recycle yard waste but not food scraps. Seattle requires households to put scraps in the compost bin or have a composting system, but those who don’t comply aren’t fined.

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In the clever headlines department, here’s a beaut from The Times (of London): “Best befores are past their sell-by date.”

Dang–I wish I’d thought of that one!

June 12, 2009 | Posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, International | 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 the Oregon Food Bank.foreshadowing?? photo by the freewheeling daredevil via creative commons

The Non-Consumer Advocate, who tipped me to the whole story, came up with a great idea in the comments section of this here blog–get Little Debbie to dig into her purse and make a donation to the OFB.

Well, now the NCA has put out a call for action on her blog to try to persuade L’il Debbie makers McKee Foods to make such a donation. With the help of this form, methinks it’s time to leave a comment on their site.

June 11, 2009 | Posted in Food Recovery, Food Safety | Comments closed

Breaking News: SF Recycling Bill Targets Food Waste

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors just signed into law an ordinance that will require households and businesses to compost. Starting this fall, everyone except those who get waivers must have a recycling, trash and compost bin, with warnings and then fines for noncompliance.

Using the stick instead of the carrot will always rub some people the wrong way, but I’m fine with it here. The environmental stakes are high, image courtesy of SF Recyclingpeople! And if any place is ready for it, it’s San Fran, which has had curbside compost collection for years. 

The possibility of fines are sure to light up the internets, but before we start talking about Big Brother and fears of a food waste fuzz, read this:

“In any scenario there will be repeated notices and phone calls before we even start talking about fines,” said Jared Blumenfeld, head of the city’s Department of the Environment. “We don’t want to fine people.”

City officials would levy any fines, and the legislation doesn’t provide funding for new trash inspectors. “It doesn’t create trash police,” Blumenfeld said.

 

June 10, 2009 | Posted in Composting | 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, often stores will discard goods at their sell-by date, even though they may have a week or more of use left. Benn said:  

“Too many of us are putting things in the bin simply because we’re not sure, we’re confused by the label, or we’re just playing safe.”  

photo by palila via creative commonsAccording to the Telegraph‘s subheading, this would only be with produce (not dairy or meats, I’m guessing). The whole thing is pretty exciting. Benn is a cabinet minister, which is similar to chairing a (U.S.)Senate Committee. Can you imagine a state representative, let alone a U.S. Senator, talking about food waste? Personally, I’m having a hard time picturing it.

Speaking of pictures, the great photo from the Telegraph shows a tactic I’ve never seen, having two kinds of dates on the package. And the words are understandable:”display until” and “use by.” This strikes me as a very clear way of labeling food.

Also, the BBC coverage of the issue had an update on a proposal to tax citizens more for producing more waste and reward those who create less. It ain’t gonna fly.

What’s your take on packaging wording? And if you had to choose one term–sell-by, use-by, best by, best before, enjoy before, etc., which would it be?

June 10, 2009 | Posted in Food Safety, International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Worth a Thousand Words: Spotted Banana

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the value of a video (in words)? We shall soon see.

I have been threatening to do some “vlogging” for some time. When I saw this banana on the sale produce rack at my supermarket, I knew I’d found my muse.

Out, Out Brown Spot from Jonathan Bloom on Vimeo.

Apologies for the camera work, my assistant was just so excited when she saw that the banana was pretty much fine. (And this was a one-take deal once I’d peeled the banana.)

Before shooting the video, I was really curious to find out if the outer blemishes would affect the inside. Then again, I’m a bit obsessed with that kind of produce blemish guessing. I think there’s a game show in there somewhere.

More than game shows, though, what I’d really love to see is a round of homemade public service announcements urging people to reduce food waste. If the USDA isn’t going to take on waste, we should. I can just see it now: “Give a hoot, don’t waste fruit!” Right, Woodsy?

June 8, 2009 | Posted in Personal, Worth a Thousand Words | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Taylor, Texas has its own backyard produce-to-the-hungry program. For those of you green thumbs in towns without such a thing, check out Ample Harvest.

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If you think you’re having a bad day, at least this didn’t happen to you. What a nightmare!photo by alexmuse via creative commons

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Save the date: June 20th marks the start of the second Eating Down the Fridge challenge.

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I’m reading Fresh: A Perishable History right now. Fascinating stuff. Author Susanne Freidberg discusses the controversy surrounding refrigeration and examines the concept of freshness through six different commodities.

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This blog post from Toronto tackles catering waste from a college reunion, but with a seldom discussed source–age.

June 5, 2009 | Posted in General | Comments closed

Roadfood

With apologies to the Sterns (on the title), I wanted to pass along this food waste debacle: a truck full of Little Debbie snacks overturned in Oregon Tuesday night, causing an entire shipment of snacks to be thrown away.

What’s most interesting is that there are differing reports on whether or not the company gave the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) permission to toss all of the food, even the undamaged boxes. There was talk of boxes that had touched the road being unfit for consumption. That seems crazy, given that the snacks are individually wrapped, in paper boxes and within cardboard cartons.

Understandably, ODOT wanted to clear the scene as quickly as possible and ended up throwing the food away after bringing it to its facility. The question is whether they had (Little) Debbie’s permission.

The sad part is that the Oregon Food Bank tried to recover the food, but was thwarted. That raises the question of whether or not the hungry are better off for not having eaten the trans-fat-laden Swiss Rolls and Fancy Cakes. Jean Kempe-Ware, an Oregon Food Bank spokeswoman, was having none of that:

“We don’t turn away food,” said Kempe-Ware. “When people are hungry, they need calories. Sometimes, it’s a nice little treat.”

The only winners in this saga: the crows who no doubt enjoyed the Pecan Spinwheels and Honey Buns. For more coverage, here’s some boring video from the local Fox affiliate and the AP story on the event.

 

June 4, 2009 | Posted in Events, Food Recovery | Comments closed

Analyzing Traylessness

I’ve been meaning to get around to this post for a while, but the buns keep piling up…

Anyway, without further ado, I present what I’m pretty sure is a first: a scholarly study on traylessness.

It was written by my food-waste friend Andy Sarjahani and two of his Virginia Tech colleagues, Elena Serrano and Rick Johnson. The study stemmed from a two-week experiment Andy ran back in 2008, when he weighed waste with and without trays. Andy Sarjahani tossing

There are a few ways of counting the reduced waste. If you use the total weight of tossed food, Tech had 30 percent less edible compostable (EC) waste without trays (I got 29.6%). But by comparing the mean waste per meal (as in Table 1), traylessness brought a 41 percent reduction.

One surprising result, as seen in Table 2, was the difference in waste at different meals. Food waste increased 76 percent from lunch to dinner. I’d guess that this probably reflects students eating quick lunches between classes and differing cultural perceptions of lunch and dinner.

The study also includes the following ideas on what food service companies can add:

Economic incentives for students not to waste, such as à la carte pricing; small batch cooking; sourcing locally grown and in-season foods; donating appropriate and safe leftovers to food banks and/or shelters; and composting what cannot be donated. Finally, educational efforts targeted toward students (and food service personnel) are essential in promoting awareness and supporting sustainable practices and any proposed changes.

In total, the paper is a nice piece of work, not surprising since the original project was partly responsible for the school going trayless in July 2008 and Andy getting hired as Tech’s Sustainability Director.

One final note: Andy has opined on multiple occasions that trays aren’t the real problem; all-you-can-eat is. As I quoted Andy in my original post on the study:

I think “all-you-can-eat” is really the culprit. Going trayless is like a cortisone shot—it treats the problem on the surface, but not at the root.

I agree, but removing trays is a pragmatic first step to reduce food waste.

June 3, 2009 | Posted in College, Trayless | Comments closed

Life to Leftovers: Hot Dog Buns

Last week, I wrote about having excess hamburger buns. Well, I now have a surplus of their sibling: hot dog buns. And since we all had so much fun in the maiden voyage of Life to Leftovers, I thought we’d give it another shot. [By the way, I haven’t heard from any of you with dilemmas of your own–maybe you’re all use-it-up experts.]

Anyway, I have four leftover potato hot dog rolls and we need a break from hot dogs, sausages and the like. Since I’m not confident that I can get a decent lobster in North Carolina, lobster rolls are out.

pb and banana roll by lantzilla via creative commonsSo, in short, HELP! Without your ideas, I’ll be having peanut butter & banana rolls all week. OK, maybe not. I can think of a few other moves, mostly involving butter and garlic, but I’d like to throw the question out to you resourceful readers. What do you do with extra hot dog buns?

And while we’re on the topic, here’s an amazing homemade contraption that allows one to toast buns without the dreaded break-in-half.

June 1, 2009 | Posted in Household, Life to Leftovers | Comments closed