Are you aware that grocery stores (and restaurants) throw away food that does not get sold, especially from prepared food sections and delis?  Perfectly good food gets thrown away rather than given away, or sold for vast discounts late in the day.  “If we can’t sell it, then no one can have it” seems to be the prevailing mentality.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule.  Some grocery stores are great at distributing food to local food banks to help local people that are hungry.  But tons of food still gets tossed, as are other non-food items that do not happen to meet quality standards.  One major chain has even gone so far as to stop food donations all together since they fear liability issues.   But a law passed in 1996 protects companies from liability so this does not seem to wash. 

The fact is that there are hungry people in every community, including the highly affluent community of Redmond, WA that I live in.  And there are hungry people the world over that go without any food on a regular basis while we throw away tons of food because it is expired or does not meet quality standards.  Every grocery (and restaurant) is guilty, to an extent.  Even so-called socially-conscious stores that are gaining national prominence.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t see how we as followers of Jesus can let this pass by without some changes.  We must figure out ways to glean the vast amounts of throw-away food and other products that end up in our landfills each day while people go hungry. 

Here are some actions we might consider:

- Check out the web site of the stores you shop to see if they post policies on food they are trying to dispose of.  If no policy is stated, contact your local store manager to discuss the issue and find out where they stand.

- If your grocer is socially conscious, you may ask them what their “throw away” policy is to find out if it is consistent with their stated core values.  I can assure you that these companies exist.  You will be surprised.

- If you find out that food is going to waste, volunteer to pick food for donation to local food banks.

- Talk to local food banks to learn more about their in-kind donation policies.

- Devise creative plans to deal with “end of day” food that has not been sold yet and propose them to local grocers.  One restaurant in Boulder, CO gives all un-cooked food and open bottles of wine to their staff at the end of the night and creates compost out of food scraps.  Why not have a cut rate mealtime, close to closing, for the less fortunate among us where we can create community good will and connection while helping the hungry. The company will look good, and people will be helped as the community comes together. 

We sorely need more solutions like this.  People right next door are going hungry, choosing food over health care, and they are likely not even homeless.  How can we, in the most abundant culture in the world, have this happen? 

What will you do?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 6th, 2006 at 9:26 am and is filed under Food, Poverty, Social Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.