Related Guides
Winning on Reducing Food Waste FY 2019-2020 Federal Interagency Strategy
- Winning on Reducing Food Waste FY 2019-2020 Federal Interagency Strategy In October 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched the Winning on Reducing Food Waste Initiative (the Initiative). As part of the Initiative, the agencies affirm their shared commitment to work towards the national goal of reducing food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030.
Resources on Food Expiration Date Labels
- USDA: Food Product Dating "Best if Used By" is a type of date you might find on a meat, poultry, or egg product label. Are dates required on these food products? Does it mean the product will be unsafe to use after that date? Here is some background information answering these and other questions about product dating.
- NRDC Report : The Dating Game: How Confusing Food Date Labels Lead to Food Waste in America This report by NRDC and the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic examines the historical impetus for placing dates on food—namely a desire to indicate products' freshness—and the ways in which the system has failed to meet this goal. Relevant federal laws and authorities are described along with a comparison of state laws related to food date labeling.
- ReFED: Date Labeling Policy Issues The date labels on food packaging accompanied by phrases such as “use by,” “best before,” “sell by,” “enjoy by” and “expires on” are generally intended to communicate food quality, not food safety. Nevertheless, date labels exert a powerful influence on consumers and food vendors. Under federal law, date labels are almost entirely unregulated. States have filled the void with a wide variety of regulations that often fail to reflect the distinction between food safety and food quality.
- Eat By Date We are a group of contributors from the kitchen and classroom communities who set out to answer the question, “How long does food really last?”. From the best ingredients to the ordinary, we provide you with a diverse and informative perspective on food shelf life, food safety, expiration dates, recipes, substitutions, food storage and more. We are focused on helping you save money, eat healthy, and debunk the myth of expiration dates on food.
Organizations & Agencies
- USDA: Food Loss and Waste In the United States, over one-third of all available food goes uneaten through loss or waste. When food is tossed aside, so too are opportunities for improved food security, economic growth, and environmental prosperity. USDA is uniquely positioned to help address the problem of food loss and waste through its programs, policies, and guidance.
- EPA: Sustainable Management of Food Sustainable Management of Food is a systematic approach that seeks to reduce wasted food and its associated impacts over the entire life cycle, starting with the use of natural resources, manufacturing, sales, and consumption and ending with decisions on recovery or final disposal. EPA works to promote innovation and highlight the value and efficient management of food as a resource. Through the sustainable management of food, we can help businesses and consumers save money, provide a bridge in our communities for those who do not have enough to eat, and conserve resources for future generations.
- FAO: Food Loss and Food Waste Reducing food loss and waste World Hunger is on the rise; yet, an estimated 1/3 of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste. We all have a part to play in reducing food loss and waste, not only for the sake of the food but for the resources that go into it. FAO is partnering with governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society to raise awareness on the issues and to implement actions to address the root of the problem. FAO is also working with governments to develop policies to reduce food loss and waste.
- FAO Food Wastage Footprint Global food production must increase by 60% by 2050 in order to meet the demands of the growing world population. Yet, more than one third of the food produced today is lost or wasted. Food loss refers to the decrease in edible food mass at the production, post-harvest and processing stages of the food chain, mostly in developing countries. Food waste refers to the discard of edible foods at the retail and consumer levels, mostly in developed countries. This food wastage represents a missed opportunity to improve food security and comes at a steep environmental price.
- ReFED ReFED is a multi-stakeholder nonprofit, powered by an influential network of the nation’s leading business, nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders committed to reducing U.S. food waste. ReFED takes a data-driven approach to move the food system from acting on instinct to insights to solve our national food waste problem.
- Further With Food: Center for Food Loss and Waste Solutions Further with Food provides comprehensive information about food loss and waste in the United States and about solutions dedicated to reducing it. This virtual resource center offers a broad spectrum of users – such as businesses, government entities, investors, NGOs, academics, and individuals —a platform to find and share information about proven solutions and innovative new approaches to reduce the volume of surplus food generated, feed hungry people, and divert food and scraps to the highest beneficial use.
- Save the Food Save the Food is a national public service campaign launched by the Ad Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council to combat food waste.
- Food Waste Reduction Alliance As industry leaders committed to improving our environment and our communities, the members of the Food Waste Reduction Alliance are taking on the challenges of food waste in an attempt to shrink our environmental footprint, and simultaneously address hunger in America. We will achieve these objectives by addressing the root causes of food waste within our own operations, and securing pathways to donate or recycle unavoidable food waste.
- Food Tank: The Think Tank for Food: Food Waste Food Tank will offer solutions and environmentally sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty by creating a network of connections and information for all of us to consume and share. Food Tank is for farmers and producers, policy makers and government leaders, researchers and scientists, academics and journalists, and the funding and donor communities to collaborate on providing sustainable solutions for our most pressing environmental and social problems.
- NRDC: Food Waste NRDC works to make America’s food system more efficient and less wasteful. We help cities redirect surplus food to people in need. We inspire consumers to waste less food at home and equip them with the strategies to make it happen.
- Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future: Reducing Food Waste Thirty percent of our global food supply is lost or wasted, and the CLF is working to advance the Sustainable Development Goals target of having that waste. We look at this issue through the lenses of public health, food systems, equity and environment. We use an interdisciplinary portfolio of qualitative and quantitative tools to research: policy and interventions (with particular attention to unintended consequences), food distribution and donation, consumer behavior, communications, quantification and seafood waste. We also engage in the policy, practice and communications activities necessary to translate evidence to real-world impact.
Local Organizations
- Boston Area Gleaners Our Mission: Boston Area Gleaners, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing surplus farm crops for people in need. Our Actions: We distribute high quality produce to food pantries and meal programs by working closely with local farmers, providing volunteer labor to harvest what would otherwise be plowed under. Our goal: Create a reliable supply chain of surplus produce from local farms to people in need.
- Food for Free Food For Free rescues fresh food—food that might otherwise go to waste—and distributes it within the local emergency food system where it can reach those in need.
- Daily Table Founded by Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s, Daily Table opened its first grocery store in Dorchester. It offers fresh produce and grocery items as well as ready-to-cook and grab-n-go prepared meals at truly affordable prices. We do all of this by recovering food from supermarkets, growers and food distributors that would otherwise have been wasted.
- Lovin' Spoonfuls We pick up wholesome, fresh food that would otherwise be thrown away from grocery stores, produce wholesalers, farms and farmers markets, and distribute it to community non-profits that feed Greater Boston’s hungry.
- Fair Foods For the past 22 years, Fair Foods has provided healthy produce to low income families in the Boston area. Our unique Two Dollars-a-bag program goes beyond emergency hunger relief, strengthening your dollar to make a healthy diet of fresh fruits and vegetables affordable.
