40% of US Food Goes to Waste

The LA Times takes note of a study on American food from the Natural Resources Defense Council with some eye-popping facts and figures on waste:

• About 40% of food in the US supply chain goes uneaten
• A family of four tosses $2,275 worth of food each year, which translates into 20 pounds per person each month
• Americans waste 50% more food today than in the 1970s, and 10 times as much as people in Southeast Asia
• Supermarket produce aisles are bountiful at a cost: Some $15 billion in fruits and vegetables goes unsold each year
• Uneaten food is the single biggest component of municipal solid waste in landfills

Read the full study here. (More food stories.)