At Univ. of Pa., A Focus on Wasted Food and What To Do About It
By Kim Glovas
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- How much food is wasted every year in the United States? That question and others were being addressed today at a first-of-its-kind conference on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
Dr. Zhengxia Dou (photo below) organized the "Last Food Mile Conference" to examine how much food is wasted, from the field to our table to our garbage can, and how to reduce that amount.
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She says the amount of food wasted each year is staggering.
"A typical family of four would waste 1,164 pounds of food each year," she notes.
Nationally, in one year, "the whole supply chain, from the processing to retail to consumption, we waste 133 billion pounds of edible food," she says.
The conference is also looking at possible solutions to the waste problem, especially in a time when many families are facing food insecurity issues.