A Whole Foods worker wanted to eat one of the 30 tuna fish sandwiches that he was supposed to throw away. He set it aside and then the boss objected and threw it out. The guy was then fired for proposing to eat something that was going to be thrown out anyway. Nice.
The worker is charged with misconduct and forced to defend his name in court, yet there isn’t even a raised eyebrow about Whole Foods throwing out 30 sandwiches at the end of a shift. And it sounded like that kind of thing happens all of the time.
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On a related note, Whole Foods‘ Austin HQ tweeted: “We save all leftover food that *meets food safety standards* for pickup by local food bank donation programs.”
The problem is that these stores are so reluctant to donate prepared foods like…tuna sandwiches.
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On a somewhat related note, here’s the Tweet of the Week, from @preparsed:
@WholeFoods what do you do with food waste that doesn’t meet the standards? Is there a company-wide composting/disposal program?
Tweet of the Week #2, from @WholeFoods:
@preparsed Yes, we do have a composting program in most all of our stores.
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Calling all restaurateurs and chefs! The site Sustainable Foodservice Consulting is a great resource for those looking to make their kitchens more environmentally friendly, including info on topics related to food waste. Plus, they have a neat logo.
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For those looking to keep a green eye on the grocery industry, WHRefresh is an interesting blog affiliated with Supermarket News.They just wrote about a Princeton, N.J., grocer unveiling its food composting program.
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Excess veggies on hand? Soup to the rescue! Tigers and Strawberries reminds us that frugality isn’t passe, it’s chic.
Comments
6 responses to “Friday Buffet”
Actually, here in Nova Scotia Canada we could be fired from Tim Hortons if we tried to eat or take home donuts from the end of the day. Instead they’re thrown out with no composting program.
Having worked their previously I know this is their policy even though often at nights we would find people rooting through the garbages for the donuts.
What can I do to persuade you to give up the ‘Tweet of the Week’? I love the whole website, especially Friday buffet, but I loathe Twitter.
Boo Tim Hortons! What a bunch of hosers. Sorry–Strange Brew flashback. But, yeah, pretty lame on their part.
Molly, thanks for the input and readership. I’d be curious to know how others feel about the issue. I just started doing a Tweet of the Week the last two Fridays, so we’ll see what others think. I’m not married the idea, by any means.
I have mixed feelings about Twitter, but I do think it’s interesting to see what people are tweeting about food waste.
I am doing something about food waste…read the stories how individuals have extended the “shelf life” of their food there-by reducing food waste. I can’t save the tuna sandwich that stores throw out but it will reduce the produce the pitch because it looks bad…http://www.freshandvital.com Saves time and money along with food.
Whole Foods in Austin composts? As a native Austinite, that is news to me. I’m also an active freegan/dumpster diver and can personally attest to the mountains of produce and dry goods they toss away nightly. Whole Foods has also recently welded their dumpster shut…
I’m really interested in this subject, specifically what motivates stores to waste food.
Going against the grain, I took advantage of a wonderful Whole Foods-esque store for awhile, which had essentially a free area out back where they left spoiling produce and loads and loads of bread. I think they donated some bread and all dairy-case type items to the food bank–the bread they ended up giving away out back was bread from their own bakery that probably stales too quickly to take to a food bank. I don’t eat much bread, but I ate so many bagged salads, tons of fruit, it saved me a lot of money.
But it makes you wonder why some stores get away with it, and some don’t.