As we’ve heard lately, times are tough for food banks. Diminished government funding and private donations have left most food banks struggling to meet client demand.
In New York, City Harvest has responded with a Million Pound Pledge to add that much food to its regular collection. Essentially, they’ve asked donors to step up, as described in this radio […]

I just returned from a research trip to New York. In addition to visiting a food pantry and speaking with the former USDA  coordinator of food recovery, I observed more stadium food recovery.
Last summer, I went to a Mets game to witness Shea Stadium food donation (baseball). There, I tagged along with a concessions manager as he collected […]

The Federal government is finally dipping its sizable toe into the food waste waters. Last week, Missouri congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson introduced legislation that could become The Federal Food Donation Act of 2007 (HR 4220).
If it passes, the bill would “encourage” most federal agencies to donate “excess, apparently wholesome food” to the hungry via non-profit groups. Jeffrey Connor, an Emerson […]

New articles about dumpster diving seem to pop up daily. But you never get the full story from the “freegan” point of view. Here’s a well-written recap of a night spent dumpster diving from Liz Seymour, a Greensboro writer who lives in a communal house.
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I found this video on The River food pantry really […]

In addition to funding family farmers, this month’s Farm Aid also helped the hungry.
How? The good people at City Harvest held a food drive and, more germane to this site, recovered food from the backstage caterers. While the canned food drive collected 2,000 pounds, City Harvest gathered an additional 5,000 pounds of primo food, the same stuff […]

Last week I visited Ag Against Hunger, a food recovery operation in Salinas, Calif. What makes their operation unique is that it receives donations primarily from the large-scale farms.
In Salinas, known as “Salad Bowl of America,” most of the big farms are packers and shippers, too. The majority of the donations Ag Against Hunger receives come […]

Wayne Roberts, a Toronto journalist and occasional farmer has written a fascinating article in the current issue of Canadian publication NOW on how glossy magazines instill a desire for perfect looking produce. This causes unrealistic expecatations, and ultimately, waste.
…most of the food we toss, perhaps one-fifth of the harvest, is wasted simply because it disappoints visual expectations […]

La Tomatina took place this week. That’s right, the big tomato fight in Buñol, Spain. In addition to being a big ol’ waste of food, it looked kind of dull.
Based on this video, I’d say it would get old in, oh, about 30 seconds.
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In the Welcome to Wuh-stah (Worcester, Mass.) department, there’s some great news out […]

I just read this nice tribute to Clayton Taub, a real mensch who was essentially a one-man food recovery operation.
The column describes Taub as having “an intolerance for waste and a passion for helping others.” Is it just me, or are there fewer and fewer folks in America’s younger generations who fit that first description?
Your thoughts, please.

It’s a big week here at Wasted Food for Indiana food banks. I just read this interesting discussion of food waste at shelters.
In this behind-the-scenes look at food pantries, the director of the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana discusses how letting shelters choose what food they want instead of receiving a pre-bundled bag of goods […]