Tag Archives: Jonathan Bloom

Friday Buffet

I’d be more excited about freezers that can detect expiration dates if those dates meant anything! With perishables, date labels speak to quality not safety. And they are basically meaningless for frozen food. — — Want some fraud with that food waste? Then talk to these two Edmonds, Wash., food service workers. — — World […]

June 14, 2013 | Posted in Friday Buffet, International, School | Comments closed

Clean Your Plate, Because…You’re in China

Many of us grew up hearing the admonition, ‘Clean your plate, because there are children starving in China.’ Well, it turns out Chinese kids heard (and some experienced) similar things. That’s one of the many fascinating anecdotes reported in The World‘s fascinating piece on food waste in China. As part of the What’s For Lunch? series, The World focused […]

June 12, 2013 | Posted in Household, Hunger, International | Comments closed

Southern Hemisphere Roundup

As is the case globally in the wake of World Environment Day, there’s plenty afoot on food waste ‘down under.’ A sampling: OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue group, just announced it will hold a Feeding the 5K event in late July. The group recovered 1,600 tonnes of food in 2012. Almost as impressive: The group recently […]

June 10, 2013 | Posted in International | Comments closed

USDA, EPA Partner To Tackle Food Waste

The USDA and EPA kicked off the US Food Waste Challenge today in Washington, D.C. The launch event, timed to coincide (loosely) with World Environment Day, featured speeches on the importance of food waste from Secretary of Ag Tom Vilsack and acting EPA chief Bob Persiasepe, in addition to private sector partners. By just about any […]

June 4, 2013 | Posted in Environment | Comments closed

Baby Steps: The Slow Spread of US AD

When it comes to anaerobic digestion in the US, any news is good news. Even noncommittal, vague comments like those from a spokesperson for Ralphs Grocery Co. Ralphs is one of the Kroger-owned supermarket chains involved with the anaerobic digestion system at a Los Angeles distribution center that process 55,000 tons of food waste per […]

May 28, 2013 | Posted in Anaerobic Digestion, Energy, Supermarket | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Tesco released a major report yesterday called What Matters Now: Using Our Scale For Good. One of the three ambitions was to lead in reducing food waste globally. The massive, UK-based retailer plans to use its industry standing to prompt suppliers and manufacturers to reduce food waste, while helping consumers do the same. For more […]

May 24, 2013 | Posted in Composting, Restaurant, School, Supermarket | Comments closed

USDA Challenges US to Waste Less Food

I’ve been fairly critical of the USDA in the past for not doing enough to combat food waste. But I’m excited to report that the Department of Agriculture is will launch the U.S. Food Waste Challenge in a few weeks. The campaign, in conjunction with the EPA, will challenge food producers, manufacturers and retailers–really everyone […]

May 22, 2013 | Posted in Farm, Legislation | Comments closed

That’s Bananas…

I spend a lot of time in supermarkets, and I’ve never seen this… …until this weekend. No idea what is going on here, but it was a pretty clean cut straight through that banana.

May 20, 2013 | Posted in Supermarket | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Much of the D.C. deer population have completed a quick journey from USDA sharpshooters scopes to soup kitchen plates. D.C. Central Kitchen recently received 600 pounds of ground venison from the National Park Service’s (necessary/unnecessary?) deer cull in Rock Creek Park. — — If supermarkets aren’t going to dramatically reduce their waste, the least they can do […]

May 17, 2013 | Posted in Energy, International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Packaging Pros and Cons

I’ve been thinking a lot about packaging recently, as I’ve been writing something about Austin’s mostly packaging-free grocer, in.gredients. From a life-cycle assessment perspective, packaging is environmentally harmful. It’s just more stuff we’re using oil to create, often unnecessarily, that usually ends up in a landfill. Yet, it’s not that simple.  Smarter packaging could limit […]

May 16, 2013 | Posted in Waste Stream | Comments closed