Episodes 69, 70, and 71 - Food Waste, Justice, and Rescue

Food Insecurity and Hunger

What is food insecurity?

Food insecurity is a lack of consistent access to enough food for everyone in a household to live an active, healthy life. 

Food insecurity forces people to make very difficult decisions. They often have to choose between buying food and other necessities. For example, Feeding America found that 66% of people who used food banks reported choosing between food and medical care. 

People experiencing food insecurity use several coping strategies. According to Feeding America:

  • 53% received help from friends

  • 40% watered down food and drinks

  • 79% purchased inexpensive, unhealthy food

  • 35% sold or pawned personal property

  • 23% grew food in a garden

55% of households used 3+ of these coping strategies.

Food insecurity has a negative impact on health and childhood development. Research has found that hunger has a “toxic” effect, especially in children. Food insecurity has been linked to obesity and chronic disease like high blood pressure, because food insecurity often results in a need to seek unhealthy foods. People experiencing food insecurity also have negative health outcomes linked to the need to choose between spending money on food and other necessities like medicine, transportation, housing, utilities, and education. Hunger affects mental health and can cause depression, anxiety, and even PTSD. A study found that mothers with school-aged children who face severe hunger are 56% more likely to have PTSD and 53% more likely to have severe depression. Children that have experienced hunger are also less likely to finish school.

Who is food insecure?

Undernutrition is a global problem that affects 9.9% of people around the world.

Food insecure households in Canada tend to be disproportionately:

Racial disparities affect food insecurity –Feeding America forecasts that 21% of Black individuals in the U.S. may experience food insecurity in 2021, compared to just 11% of white individuals.

Food insecurity is extremely high in Canada’s North. 57% of households in Nunavut were food insecure in 2018. Food insecurity affected 22% of households in the Northwest Territories and 17% of households in Yukon. While rates are slightly lower in Yukon and the Northwest Territories, it is still much higher than the rest of Canada. The national rate of food insecurity was 13% during this period.

Food insecurity and COVID-19

Both Canada and the US had been making progress in reducing food insecurity in 2019. But the pandemic caused widespread economic challenges that created pressure on millions of individuals in both countries.

The big difference between the two countries is public policy. In Canada, the federal government established a generous monthly financial benefit that provided stability during the early crisis. In the United States, benefits were much more limited.

In the US, 45 million people were food insecure in 2020, according to Feeding America. 10 million more people were food insecure in 2020, compared to 2019. In 2021 food insecurity is projected to decrease slightly, to 42 million. Food banks across the U.S. distributed 50% more food in 2020 than in 2019.

According to Food Banks Canada’s HungerCount Report, hunger decreased briefly in 2020 in Canada because of the CERB—a $2,000/month benefit for eligible Canadians that had lost work but were not covered under EI—and the CEWS—a cost-sharing program to avoid layoffs. But by March 2021 food bank visits had increased 19% over 2019 levels. (In fall 2020 CERB was replaced by the Canada Recovery Benefit, Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, and Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit.)

What causes food insecurity?

Especially in developing countries, food shortages can be a major cause of food insecurity. Severe droughts and conflict are major drivers of famine internationally.

But food insecurity is generally not caused by a lack of food. It is a problem with how food is distributed.

Food insecurity is caused by a range of socioeconomic factors, such as: poverty (unemployment, precarious work, low wages, reliance on inadequate social supports); insufficient income, as well as unstable income; and high costs of living (housing, food, etc.). Food insecurity is extremely high in Canada’s north partly because of poverty. But it is also because of the high overall cost of living and the high cost of shipping nutritious and perishable food. Food in Nunavut costs up to three times the national average.

Lack of nutritious food can also be caused by the effect of socioeconomic factors on food supply. Food deserts are geographic areas where residents lack access to affordable, healthy food options because there is an absence of grocery stores within convenient travel distance. Food deserts are commonly found in racialized communities and low-income areas. Wealthy districts in America have three times as many supermarkets as poor districts.

Living in a food desert can make it difficult to find food that is nutritious, culturally appropriate, meets dietary restrictions. Healthy foods are more expensive than unhealthy foods, especially in food deserts. Death rates from diabetes are twice as high in food deserts, compared to other neighbourhoods.

Food waste is an important cause of food insecurity. Since food insecurity is a problem with how we allocate food, food waste represents a failure of the capitalist system to effectively and equitably distribute food. It is estimated that reducing food waste by 15% could feed more than 25 million Americans every year

Food Waste

How much food do we waste?

Globally, one-third of all food produced is thrown away. Approximately $1 trillion USD in food is wasted every year around the world.

Food loss typically refers to waste that occurs before food reaches the consumer, while food waste refers to waste at the retail phase and beyond. But for ease here I’m going to refer to them together.

75% of food waste happens during three phases of the food chain: the production phase, postharvest handling and storage; and the consumption phase (retail and beyond).

Food waste is higher in wealthier countries. In the US, up to 40% of all food produced goes uneaten and 95% of discarded food ends up in landfills.

A lot of food waste is avoidable. More than 60% of the food that Canadians throw out could have been eaten.

Environmental impact of food waste

Producing food requires resources like energy, land, pesticides, and water. Wasted food also creates unnecessary waste in the resources used to produce food.

Producing food also creates environmental impacts like greenhouse gas emissions and water and air pollution. These are unnecessary environmental impacts when they go toward food that is never eaten. The global food system accounts for up to 30% of GHG emissions, so this is a big deal.

Food also creates waste when it is disposed in landfill. When food ends up in landfill it produces methane.

Overall, food waste is responsible for 8% of global emissions. That is why Project Drawdown has identified reducing food waste as the single most effective thing individuals can do to address climate change (closely followed by eating a plant-based diet).  

Food waste occurs throughout the supply chain

At farms

An estimated 13% of fruits and vegetables in Canada are lost during harvest. Food wasted at this stage usually is composted, put in an anaerobic digester, or converted to animal feed.

During transport and storage

Not a lot is known about food lost during transportation and storage.

Packaging, processing, and manufacturing

An estimated 10% of produce, meat, and field crops become avoidable food loss. Food wasted at this stage mostly either goes to landfill or becomes animal feed. But sometimes it is used for biofuel.

Wholesale and distribution

Food losses during wholesaling and distribution is low during this phase.

Retail sales

An estimated 12% of Canada’s avoidable food loss and waste occurs during the retail phase. This waste is landfilled, composted or sent to anaerobic digesters, and donated.

Restaurants and other food services

A lot of food is wasted in restaurants: 21% of dairy, eggs, and field crops; 38% of produce; and 20% of meat.

Households and consumers

Organic and kitchen waste makes up 30% of the waste that is disposed by Canadian households.

What causes food waste?

Retail food waste is caused by: the rejection of produce that does not meet visual quality standards (ugly fruit); inadequate storage; damage; oversupply; lack of networks to enable food rescue and redistribution; and the withdrawal of products that approach or exceed date labels.

Restaurant food waste is caused by: food prepared but not served; surplus inventory of ingredients; and inadequate storage.

Legislative responses to food waste

In 2016, France passed a law that bans supermarkets from destroying unsold food products. They are instead required to use other strategies, like preventing food waste, donating it, converting it to animal feed, or composting it. Stores that throw out unsold food are fined.

Italy has a similar regulation, but it does not have penalties attached. It does make it easier for stores to donate unsold food, though (for example allowing donations past sell-by dates). Other countries, like Australia and Denmark, subsidize food rescue organizations.

How to reduce your personal food waste

Love Food Hate Waste suggests 3 strategies for reducing food waste:

Plan your grocery trips

Having a meal plan reduces food waste.

Learn to use more of the food that you have

  • Re-evaluating best by dates – refer to quality, not safety

  • Reviving food that is a bit stale, burned, overcooked or wilted

  • Storing food more effectively

  • Saving perishable food by freezing or drying it

Improve the way that you store food

One tip I learned recently is that you can keep lemons fresh longer by storing them in a glass jar full of water

Community responses to food waste

Community fridges

A lot of neighborhoods have community fridges. Basically, it is a public area with a fridge and shelf space. Anyone can donate food, as long as it is unopened and fresh. Anyone can take what they need from the community fridge.

Freedge maps community fridges and offers resources for people who want to start one

Food rescue

These are organizations that work with businesses to deliver surplus food to food agencies. In part three of our series on food we talk to a food rescue organization called Second Harvest.

Freeganism

Freeganism is a life philosophy based on minimum participation in capitalism, as well as limited consumption of capitalist resources.

The term was coined in the 1990s, but it is based on a similar movement in the 1960s called the Diggers. The Diggers were a community anarchist group based in San Francisco. Their aim was to create a mini-society free from money and capitalism. China’s “lying flat” movement is milder version of this idea.

Freegans believe that capitalism creates overproduction and try to refrain from participating.

Freegans organize their lives around four core concepts: waste minimization and reclamation; eco-friendly transportation; rent-free housing; and working less. Freegans attempt to meet their basic needs without buying things as much as possible. This includes: foraging, dumpster-diving, using community gardens and fridges; volunteering rather than working; and squatting instead of renting. Like anything else, freeganism is a continuum. Some people practice it casually, while others attempt to withdraw from capitalism completely.

Just Eat It Documentary

We also watched the Just Eat It documentary for our “reacts” episode with Robert Miller. You can watch the documentary here: https://www.knowledge.ca/program/just-eat-it