Food Waste in Distribution and Use

Abstract

NTIL recently, increasing the Nation's food supply to meet war needs has been regarded almost entirely as a production problem. The focal point for securing increased food production has been the farm. Truly, the farmer who plants and harvests a bushel of potatoes or wheat is the cornerstone of the physical process of production. Yet the size of our food supply is not entirely dependent on production. After the farmer produces food, the amount that reaches the consumer depends on the care taken in marketing and using it. Thus, maintaining a bushel of potatoes in sound condition after production may be considered equally as productive as the production of the potatoes. Every bushel of potatoes conserved that otherwise might be spoiled adds to the food supply of the Nation. The 1943 food program anticipated a production increase of about three percent over 1942 production. This anticipated increase may be contrasted with the amount of food waste that ordinarily occurs after production. Such waste has been variously estimated at from 5 to 40 percent of production,1 depending on the commodity in question. The Nutrition and Food Conservation Branch, Food Distribution Administration, estimates the over-all food wastage at 20-30 percent of all food production.2 If any part of this waste is saved, an addition to the Nation's food supply has been made. The Food Distribution Administration is conducting campaigns to encourage consumers and handlers of food to reduce food waste to a minimum. Its program includes, among other activities, the dissemination of educational material on food conservation by way of