Today is the Day to End Food Waste in the Foodservice Industry!

I will never forget the scene. I was walking down a hallway in a major sporting venue that connected dozens of luxury suites. As I was walking along with my wife I noticed a large wheeled garbage can outside of one of the suites. Inside the garbage can I found chilled jumbo shrimp, pasta, hot dogs, hot dog buns, chicken wings, and more. In effect, the custodians were moving from suite to suite and tossing out perfectly good food while homeless people were literally outside the venue in the street below looking for a decent meal for the day. I was horrified at the waste of food that resulted from preparing more than what was to be consumed in the suites and then tossing the overage into the garbage – night after night after night!

Sadly, that sports venue is not alone. The National Restaurant Association estimates (conservatively, no doubt) that approximately 20 percent of all food prepared commercially in the United States goes to waste in an industry that is projected to generate over $500 billon in revenues in 2009. The Cascadia Consulting group (http://www.cascadiaconsulting.com/) reports that Full Service Restaurants generate 4,400 pounds of waste/yr/employee (after recycling), of which 66% is food scraps, while Quickservice restaurants generate 4,250 pounds of waste/yr/employee (after recycling), of which 52% is food scraps. And those statistics do not even take into account the amount of energy and water that were wasted to produce, process, ship, and prepare food destined for the dumpster!

The statistics make it clear that culinary arts and hospitality educators have to become active beyond the classroom to stop this shameful waste of food in our beloved industry. Sure, we teach our students to not waste food in the classroom and kitchen but how many of them end up working for foodservice businesses that share the same values? S urely our recently minted alums are not in a position as junior employees to speak out to their employer on food waste so how can we help them find their voice on the matter? Beyond that, what are each of us doing in our own community to influence and educate foodservice operations to reduce their food waste because it makes good business sense?

However, when approaching foodservice operations with questions on whether they are donating their overage to local food banks, churches, or other non-profit groups that feed the hungry be prepared to have a response to their common excuse, which is, “We could get sued.” When they say that, and they most certainly will, please remind them that President Clinton signed into law the Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act on October 1, 1996, that encouraged the donation of food and grocery products to non-profit organizations for distribution to needy individuals.
The law:
a) Protects them from liability when donations are made to a non-profit organization;
b) Protects them from civil and criminal liability should the product donated in good faith later cause harm to the needy recipient;
c) Standardizes donor liability exposure so they or their legal counsel no longer have to investigate liability laws in 50 states; and
d) Sets a floor of "gross negligence" or intentional misconduct for persons who donate grocery products. According to the new law, gross negligence is defined as "voluntary and conscious conduct by a person with knowledge (at the time of conduct) that the conducts is likely to be harmful to the health or well-being of another person."

Then ask why their state or business are not in compliance with federal law. Perhaps that will lead to a deeper dialogue to get the real reason food is being wasted and ultimately lead to a change for the better.

As always, our hats are off to those in the foodservice industry who hate to waste food and are committed to doing more with their overage than throwing it in the garbage. Those people and businesses will be proudly profiled on this blog in the future to celebrate their efforts as well as put more pressure on others in the industry to end their wasteful ways for the good of the industry and the planet, so please do all you can to end food waste today!