By Kira Yates ’16

Food waste in the United States is an increasingly serious problem. Each year, 40 percent of the food produced in the United States is never consumed, but rather thrown away by grocery stores and restaurants. This converts to wasting about $165 billion every year, from resources used to grow the food, to the manual labor, to the money spent on the food. One factor in this food waste epidemic is that grocery stores constantly overstock their products to appeal to the majority of “impulse shoppers,” who tend to buy from displays with a lot of options, fearing that a display of only a few products demonstrates a flaw with those goods.

This wasting of food, which may seem insignificant, actually has many negative consequences. First of all, when produce decomposes in a landfill, it does not have access to fresh air and therefore emits methane, a gas which trap heat and contributes greatly to global warming.

Along with environmental implications, food waste also has social consequences. In a country where approximately 50 million people live in food- insecure households, statistics show that the average American throws away 20 pounds of food per month. An easy solution to fix both of these problems simultaneously would be for restaurants, businesses like grocery stores and farmers to donate any leftover food. Unfortunately, many companies are reluctant to donate food because they are afraid of any legal problems they may face. Unbeknownst to them, the “Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Donation Act” prevents companies from being sued for donating food that may cause health problems, but because not many people are aware of it, the legislation has had little effect on the amount of food donated to the hungry.

Also, donating extra food to the hungry is very expensive, due to packing, shipping and distribution costs and undermines the whole goal of a company. For many, it is easier and less costly to simply throw away extra food. For this reason, there should be economic incentives, specifically tax breaks, for companies who donate leftover food. While a system like this does exist, the legislation is temporary and must be renewed every six months, so because companies are unsure if they will receive a tax break at the end of the year, they are understandably hesitant to donate food.

Recently, the “Fighting Hunger Incentive Act” was passed in the House to make these economic incentives permanent, only to be renamed and filled with completely different content in the Senate for no apparent reason. Wasting unnecessarily large amounts of food is a very serious environmental and social problem in the U.S., which could easily be reduced by legislation creating economic incentives such as tax breaks for companies who donate food to the hungry.