Half of all food produced on earth is never eaten. British supermarkets refuse food that looks ugly. - Polidicks

Most food is thrown away in factories. Did you ever see a pre made sandwich made with the end pieces of the bread?

[QUOTE=Ishwoo;39169789]My mate says how the supermarket he works at throws out like £7,000 worth of food every month because the packaging gets a dent in it or it goes a day over sell-by. They're not allowed to give it to homeless people either in case they get ill and sue them :/[/QUOTE] I remember getting a ton of dented food (mostly cereal and candy bars) when I was little, I can't remember how legal it was though.

[QUOTE=The golden;39169998]Why not take the soon-to-be expired stuff and the food that doesn't look marketable and then sell it at some sort of bargain location for [I]super[/I] cheap prices. I don't know how the culture is in Britain surrounding such an idea, but it would probably work here.[/QUOTE] that's done in the US a fair bit, but not to the extent it should be.

The grocery store I work at tosses out probably around ~3000 lbs of food matter each week. We have about 20, 200 lb. compost bins that we wheel around to the back of the store and have them picked up every Friday. I couldn't put a price to it, but I've seen lots of perfectly good food being thrown out because 'it sat out too long' or it was less than ideal looking.

Potatoes that are too big can't be sold in the EU because of norms.

Up here in Belgium the stores have a massive reputation for wasting tons of food, many people have started up the life of dumpster diving because of it, purely to show just HOW MUCH viable food is being thrown away. The food container has a small dent in it? Gone. It's expiration date is three days away? Better safe then sorry. There is a SINGLE apple in a pack with a small crease? THROW THE ENTIRE PACK OUT. That pizza's crust is a slightly lighter sort of brown? Off it goes. The bottom line is, there is only one company here who did some work on it and came to the obvious conclusion that many stores do this, because it's cheap. Cheaper then say, having a truck come over and distribute all the food to food centers for the homeless. One store is doing this however, and it's a very good PR move it seems. They are the only ones who donate that sort of food and the centers they supply are filled to the brim with food every month. Imagine if all the shops started doing it

One way to combat is cheaper prices when its close to best before date. Like Sushi in supermarkets.

don't some supermarkets have a "display by" date a week before "Best Before" date. That's terrible... [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=MrJazzy;39172815] it's impossible to eat everything you buy[/QUOTE] what? [quote]It's just a consequence of the consumer system. [/quote] it's a consequence of dumb supermarkets.

[QUOTE=wewt!;39177866]I remember getting a ton of dented food (mostly cereal and candy bars) when I was little, I can't remember how legal it was though.[/QUOTE] They do sometimes sell all the deformed shit for cheap, you can get 1kg of biscuits at my local petrol station for £1 and it's all the biscuits that got snapped on the production line.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;39175018]At no point in this did anyone suggest seeing if a food bank wanted it? Or hell, even a zoo?[/QUOTE] They might have done, we just got told to ship a pallet of them back the depo, instead of our normal disposal routine. We used to give food to charity, but they rarely took most of what we had, and in the end stopped all together.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;39175018]At no point in this did anyone suggest seeing if a food bank wanted it? Or hell, even a zoo?[/QUOTE] Something similar happened to the store I worked at when we got sent 4 pallets, or several thousand kilograms, of cherries. Normally we sell them for 7.99 a pound, but we put them on sale for .99 cents a pound, and when they started to go we had to throw a fair number a way (say around 100-200 pounds). We tried giving some of them away, but you can only give away so much before people start turning it away, and cherries aren't exactly a staple food.

[QUOTE=Miss Tiki;39169891]In Germany we have a couple of supermarkets who mostly sell food that isn't perfectly packed or slighty over date. Super cheap stuff, doesn't taste any different and prevents throwing it away just because it doesn't look 100% perfect. Got some chips which are normally absurd expensive (over ~2€ per bag) for about 60cents because they were slighty over date. In other shops they would've gone to waste. [editline]10th January 2013[/editline] That's the best you can do. Read an article about this, as long as the food doesn't look or smells strange it is edible. Depending on what you ahve and how it is packed that stuff can last a couple of years over the date without being bad.[/QUOTE] This, so much! I always assumed markets like that exists everywhere in the world? Selling products that are slightly above the best before date, or dented packaging?

[QUOTE=AK'z;39179496]don't some supermarkets have a "display by" date a week before "Best Before" date. That's terrible...[/QUOTE] Yes, most do, and its mainly to keep the "sellable" product on the shelves. Most people are a little wary to buy something close to its expiration date, when they may not use it up by that time. Removing product close to the expiration date also nearly eliminates the possibility of a product going bad before the date while on display (which does happen) and the accompanying lawsuit if someone ate it. With the allowance for shrink, potential profit, and the elimination of the risks of lawsuits, it technically makes sense from a business perspective.

[QUOTE=AK'z;39179496][editline]11th January 2013[/editline] what? it's a consequence of dumb supermarkets.[/QUOTE] I'm saying consumers buying food and throwing it away happens. And what are supermarkets supposed to do, sell food that may be bad? [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] I don't see what was dumb about my post.

[QUOTE=MrJazzy;39179864]sell food that may be bad? [/QUOTE] what do you mean "may be bad"? if you read the discussion you'd find that things are thrown away just because of dumb packing defects or things are on the best before date. Unless the food is literally "uneatable", it's foolish to dispose of it. [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Ogopogo;39179825]it technically makes sense from a business perspective.[/QUOTE] in terms of people who are hungry, I don't think it's right.

Nutrients from plants that arn't sold can be used to create more fertile soil next year, nothing is wasted in nature.

[QUOTE=AK'z;39180315]what do you mean "may be bad"? if you read the discussion you'd find that things are thrown away just because of dumb packing defects or things are on the best before date. Unless the food is literally "uneatable", it's foolish to dispose of it.[/QUOTE] Fine if it's because of a packing defect that's stupid, but best before date is pretty important because some products do expire at about that date.

This really pisses me off to no extent

[QUOTE=MrJazzy;39179864]I'm saying consumers buying food and throwing it away happens. And what are supermarkets supposed to do, sell food that may be bad? [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] I don't see what was dumb about my post.[/QUOTE] The food isn't necessarily bad just because the best-before date has expired or the packaging was defective. Expiration dates are a rough guideline, with some margin added on, that both consumers and stores have become too anal about.

[QUOTE=Crhem van der B;39172052]Weird. In Pret A Manger (UK) everything that's sold is made the same day it's sold, so nothing stays overnight and is always fresh. However, at the end of the day, everything that's not sold is either taken by charities in town or by the workers themselves.[/QUOTE] That sounds pretty difficult to make a profit. Though if it does work well I got to say bravo to them.

A supermarket in my local area actually hired a chef and started to sell cooked meals, made from food wares that would had been thrown away otherwise, in take-away form right in the store. Not quite as cheap as those frozen microwave dishes, but still really hearty and fresh meals.

[QUOTE=Im Crimson;39183725]The food isn't necessarily bad just because the best-before date has expired or the packaging was defective. Expiration dates are a rough guideline, with some margin added on, that both consumers and stores have become too anal about.[/QUOTE] But not everybody can tell when something has expired

[QUOTE=MrJazzy;39184641]But not everybody can tell when something has expired[/QUOTE] Which is also the consumers fault. The ability to tell if something is good to eat or not is as essential as the ability to walk, read and look both ways before crossing the street. There are a few ambiguous exceptions but as people above me pointed out; If it doesn't smell or taste funny it's generally safe to eat.

[QUOTE=MrJazzy;39180953]Fine if it's because of a packing defect that's stupid, but best before date is pretty important because some products do expire at about that date.[/QUOTE] no food expires on it's best before date. a best before date is exactly that. the food is at it's best before that date, but will still be edible. use by dates are the ones you should follow to the day. it's shit like packs of bananas that have best before dates. they sit on the shelves for 3 or 4 days then get thrown out if they're unsold. yet if you buy them, they can sit in your house for a week or 2 and be perfect

Very well then.

Well ask yourself when was the last time you bought an apple that had a peck or something, or a tomatoe that was already a bit soft?

[QUOTE=W00tbeer1;39172873]The owner does not wish to donate them because there may be a possibility of lawsuit if somebody gets a food illness.[/QUOTE] you'd think there would be a worse lawsuit if someone gets a food illness from something they bought, than something that was donated to them.

dumpster diving ftw