If it was going to pig farms or dog food that would be better than nothing. Shouldnt there be some sort of secondary market instead of throwing it in the trash?

makes it to the table. The rest goes to waste. We could be much more efficient with just a little more effort. I get where you're coming from. I'm ok with " target="_blank">spots on my apples.

Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please.

It used to be that they would take it to various soup kitchens but that has been outlawed for some reason. Now I am not saying days old food, but day old food should not just be thrown out.

It's for their bottom line, crush it, toss it, let it go to waste.

They tend to last longer.

The Rehab on which I sit on the Board has been using a food bank that gets much of its stock from local grocery stores for quite some years now. The stores donate both food that is near expiration, as well as overstocked items.

If the stuff near expiration is cooked and sealed frozen I would eat it especially if prepared by a chef like myself 👍

I really don't need to buy lunch items. There are always some bits from last night's supper. And it keeps my refrigerator from getting too crowded.

One day recently, I was at our local market and a young man was rummaging through the veggie display and throwing a lot of what looked good to me into a grocery cart. There was one little bruise on a green pepper, into the cart it went along with a huge amount of stuff. I was curious and asked him what he was going to do with the cart full. He told me it was headed for the dumpster.

All unsold fresh food and meat that look slightly bruised or was out of date was going into the incinerator. I assume the same fate applies to the extensive prepared food and deli section.
I commented on what a waste it was and was told that it is a state law that they dispose of the food and not donate it to a shelter or food pantry.

It is such an incredible waste. People go hungry and good food is thrown out. This same policy causes prices on the rest of the store to rise to cover of the cost of wasted food.

As we struggle to put food on the table or help others to do so, our state and probably most others find that it is OK to just dump it.

Our priorities are so out of whack.

Give them immunity if the food makes anyone sick, then give it to the food banks and give the stores a tax deduction.

Heck, if they gave away enough food, who cares if they pay a penny in taxes?

Call me skeptical, but I seriously doubt that any state has a law saying that food can't be given away. Sounds like another business blaming government for the businesses' own anti-social practices.

They do that a lot.

-Laelth

But I looked it up because I remember someone telling me the same thing. That they used to donate the food before it became illegal..


http://www.activistpost.com/2013/08/it-is-illegal-to-feed-homeless-in.html

In NY Bloomberg actually came up with this(from the link):

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s food police have struck again!
Outlawed are food donations to homeless shelters because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content, reports CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer.
Glenn Richter arrived at a West Side synagogue on Monday to collect surplus bagels — fresh nutritious bagels — to donate to the poor. However, under a new edict from Bloomberg’s food police he can no longer donate the food to city homeless shelters.

We live in crazyville.

It's a city ordinance, it appears, and not a state law, but it's disappointing nonetheless. Let us hope Mayor DeBlasio pushes to amend or abolish this law.

-Laelth

USA today posted a list.

It's depressing as hell. A literal war on the poor.

A kind of burgoo, maybe 100's of gallons a week per store could feed a lot of people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgoo

The round red sticker that says, "Manager's Special."

at a lower price...they call this....Managers sale.

Of course it applies for baked goods or whatnot, but meat is heavily regulated. If a store gets caught selling bad meat they are in deep trouble.

The date on unfrozen meat in stores is very near that day. There's no repurposing as the FDA mandates very stringent regulations for said meat.

Grocers get away with doing lots of wrong things with food..until they are caught breaking the law.

I am simply stating the fact of the law. If a grocer is selling meat past the unfrozen or frozen date they get fined to fuck and back. That's the reality.

So what if 1% or even 10% get away with fucking over the consumer, the FDA is watching. Good luck, I say, to those grocers, because they'll be caught eventually if they keep it up.

edit: you're not going to rewrap and inject shit into frozen meats, so that's why I focused on unfrozen stuff which literally cannot be on the store shelves for more than a week!

Of course that's the reality..you get caught breaking the law you get in trouble.But that 1% or 10% trying to get over hurts the consumer who gets very ill from those who do it. And yes the Fda is watching but unfortunately they aren't policing individual stores. The Fda isn't perfect. Not going fucking argue with you get a life.

You made an extraordinary claim, that grocers treat old meat with some chemical the rewrap it at a discount. Do you hav any proof if this practice or that it is as widespread as you claim?

When what the actual law states is punted out a evidence that such a practice woul be illegal, you insisted otherwise.

Are you able to provided any evidence for your claim?

Remember, the claim was that expired meat was treated with a chemical then re-wrapped and sold.

The point was, you wondered why the other person got angry with you, and I pointed out that your intentional obtuseness was the cause.

There was a lawsuit involved...because a producer actually got hired on in the meat department, and did the whole hidden camera thing.

But the gist of the story - whoever is responsible for enforcing these rules is tremendously understaffed, and it is enticingly easy to cheat the system. The item I remember most is the 're-wrap'. They take fresh pink meat and use it to camouflage older and less pink meat inside. I have often suspected this to be the case, as I have noticed it with ground beef many times...but I dismissed my suspicions...that is until I saw the story. Now it is possible that the meat is still within its time period, but sometimes I have bought meat 6 days out from its date, all pink and pretty, and there's the brown stuff inside....was the brown stuff only a day old?

There may be laws and regulations against selling old meat...but consider, speed limits don't keep a lot of people from speeding, do they? When I buy ground beef now, I go to a place that has it laid out in a thin layer - not the squashed 'ball o meat'. This way I can see it all, and know that it hasn't been re-wrapped.

plus, they don't have adequate funding to very scary to anyone anymore.

i routinely purchase expired meat.

The meat department at a grocery store is going to spend extra wage hours to unwrap expired meat, treat it with a chemical (more expense), and then re-wrap it it? As opposed to just placing a red sticker on it with a reduced price? No. That's a myth. Spending the extra time and money is a bad business practice.

The "managers special" unlike the myth posted by others here, cannot pass FDA expiration dates.

So meats a few days beyond expiration are tossed. Wal-Mart is especially diabolical, because they crush it up with other garbage, so that people won't feel compelled to go after it. Cardboard and beef does not a meal make.

I wish the US had federal level laws mandating that day -1 foodstuff be distributed to the local community, but it doesn't happen.

.
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I've had some burgers and Salisbury Steak frozen dinners that sure tasted like it!



ON topic, I have gotten some damn good meat of of our local dumpster in the past - small town, no problem - just tell them it's for my dog (don't have a dog).

One of our local "dumpsters" is just a shed - and they put the meat in one special section, don't mix it up with the rest of the garbage.

This time of year is great - Northern Ontario - the stuff is frozen within a few hours of being thrown out.

Bonus!

CC

ps: worked at a small McDonald's almost 30 years ago - we were throwing out over 50 pounds of french fries alone in a single shift. Approx 200 pounds total every 16 hours with burgers, nuggets, salads and so on. (sigh)

Those whole broiled chickens, for example, started out as a way to use fresh meat at the edge. Fish and meats for deli salads, hot deli entrees, etc. are ways that well managed supermarkets reduce waste.

First and foremost though they keep tight inventory control in the first place.

When it gets a few days past expiration or when the produce just gets too ugly for sale we trash ours.

They are protected from liability by Good Samaritan laws.

Or to places that process the excess for livestock feed - that's where all the leftover food from the school district ends up.

Or, it may be composted.

sell their "greymeats" (expired meat about a day or two old) at 50% discounts.

also, any store gets a gold star if they sell meat and cheese ends from the deli counter.

In my county here in the Pacific Northwest, there are several groceries where pick-ups are made.

Gleaning organizations can be found all over the country, most require membership dues and so many hours of volunteering, but we gather food from just about every place where waste was once a problem, groceries, restaurants, bakeries, farmers fields, dairies, and individual's gardens. It's a worthy cause and all it takes is a few willing to donate the time and effort it requires to organize a group, then once you've got it off the ground, you'd be surprised how quickly people take an interest, join up, work hard, and eat healthy. The one in my county will be celebrating its thirtieth year soon.

A HUGE amount of produce is rejected and not sold. But it doesn't land in the dumpster. She's been told that some of the "bad" produce is donated or sold (not sure which) to be pig food and some gets composted, so at least at this particular store, it isn't all being completely wasted.

First of all, you have "sell by" vs. "best by" vs. "use by" dates. A dairy product with a "sell by" date must last a certain number of days beyond that date, allowing the consumer time to take it home and use it. A "use by" date indicates a point at which the product is likely to show signs of spoiling. A "best by" date is almost meaningless...it just means the product might not be as fresh-tasting as when it was packaged months ago.

Certain products are required by law to have expiration dates on them, even if not really needed. They're more to give you an idea of how old a product is. Yogurt is a good example. I have no problem eating yogurt weeks past the expiration date, as long as it's sealed and properly refrigerated. It's already filled with living organisms!

I know this isn't 100% germane to the OP, but it's worth noting; we (you and me, not just supermarkets) throw away way too much food because of expiration dates which are often arbitrary.

The carnivores normally eat rotting meat in the wild, so meat past the sale date is no big thing.

for him on the back step. In that box would be all the breads, veggies and fruit the store was disposing of for the day. Mostly slightly damaged. He would bring it home and feed it to our geese, ducks and chickens. BUT sometimes there would be things like a apple with a spot on it, etc. and into the house it would come. Our family ate it.

I agree that we have way too much waste. If grocers put these items in separate "dumpsters" I suspect the hungry would come. But like clothing to the used stores I am afraid that those who have do not realize that some things are just too damaged for anyone to use. Hopefully we will come up with some answers.

In the 80s I worked at a large PA grocery chain (ACME). All out of date foods were tossed and taken to the land fill. I questioned things like out of date margarine. I was told that they used to donate the stuff to food banks, the county home etc. but a 'stomach ache law suit' ended that practice.
I witnessed and participated in quartering frozen turkeys on the meat band saw and throwing them in a plastic garbage can, pouring bleach over them and witnessing the meat going into a garbage truck. (About 20 turkeys)
There is unbelievable waste in grocery chains. You can thank the law suit crazy culture we live in.

there is a wildlife sanctuary with wolves and bears and much of the stuff goes there and some stuff, like milk, eggs and bread go to the food bank. Even the restaurants participate in that program and some goes to the senior lunch program. Little goes to waste in the low population area around here.

read the answer I am providing. In my area of the Twin Cities there is a store (actually they have 3 locations) that resells 'expired' food. They have a lot of produce, frozen foods as well as hard goods. Many times the produce is just as good as at a regular grocery store. Other times the produce is way past prime. I have purchased still good fresh mushrooms (8oz.) 3 /$1. The meat is all frozen, including sausages. There must be a national wholesaler because there are many brands of canned goods and dry goods that are not sold in the local grocery stores.

among the workers, remainder is food banked.

You never know what good deal you will find. A while ago I bought 20 lbs. Of frozen baby back pork ribs for .99¢/lb.

There is a commercial bakery on the next block. They bake artisinal type of bread. Sometimes the loaves are not perfectly formed. They are frozen and sold in their outlet store 3/$2.50. The same bread would sell for $4 - $6 in a grocery store.

stuff that is garbage to a grocery is collected by the Gleaners and redistributed in my county...four hours of volunteer work is all it takes to "shop" for free.

The Good Samaritan Food Donation Act enables freedom from liability and guarantees that most waste is eliminated, providing that organizations are willing to follow the simple rules of what constitutes "wholesome food" and make no attempt to profit off of any donations from individuals, farms, retail, or wholesale businesses.

As I read this thread, I am surprised that so many areas have never organized to utilize this simple law. If there is no Gleaning group nearby where one lives and waste and hunger is a major concern, all it takes is a few dedicated individuals to begin the gleaning process. Ours began in the back room of a used-book barn, long before Clinton made the law a federal exemption for those concerned with liability.

Good Samaritan Food Donation Act — Definitions — Collecting, Distributing, Gleaning — Liability.

The Legal Guide to the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act

Some of the stores in my area give the stuff they can't sell to homeless and battered women's shelters and unfortunately much ends up in the dumpster.

A lot of unsold meat is sent for rendering. Unsaleable produce is usually thrown away. Although i'm sure a lot ends up fed to rabbits and guinea pigs.

supermarkets for example offer such food stocks to their own staff and very low price.

It's sad to see all the food getting wasted daily.

just like e waste recycling , food recycling companies recycle food for composting.

Quite interesting!

http://www.splendidtable.org/story/dumpster-diving-freegans-are-a-response-to-food-waste

Bakery stuff gets marked down for the public. When I worked for Safeway for about six months, I'd see a ton of stuff (bakery and more) going to local charities first thing in the morning. But there's only so long before that stuff goes bad and has to be tossed.