healthy food - UGLY FOOD PILOT PROJECT READY TO GO - SIBEJO

Whole Foods Market will begin a pilot project later this spring offering �ugly� produce for sale in certain California stores. Whole Foods already uses this produce in its prepared foods, but it intends to put the produce on display and sell it with other fruits and vegetables. The goal is to reduce food going to waste, which the USDA estimates affects approximately one-third of the total food supply. Supermarkets in Europe and Australia already successfully sell �imperfect� produce. In addition to Whole Foods� project, several companies and nonprofits in the U.S. are seeking to make this produce available at below-supermarket prices. One, located outside of Boston, has experienced enough success to consider expansion to other areas.

Source: CT Office of Legislative Research, 3/29/16, Ugly Food

healthy food - BEAUTIFYING FOOD WASTE - SIBEJO

In Jean-Fran�ois Millet�s 1857 painting �The Gleaners,� three women in a cornfield pick what harvesters have left behind, collecting and eventually making use of what would otherwise be wasted. It�s one of, if not the, most famous depictions of food rescue. Contemporary Brooklyn artist Alizazarov is a modern food rescue artist. Her �Waste Not� project began in 2011 when a local paper assigned her an Earth Day story to trail a �freegan.� Using freegan directories, Eliazarov intercepts food shortly after grocery stores or bakeries put it to the curb in trash bags and before it is picked up by garbage collection. Back in her studio, she gives the food two new uses. First, she arranges the tableau; then she eats. Eliazarov�s project has grown beyond still lifes of food waste to working with food rescue organizations, including photographing apple orchard gleaners with the Connecticut Food Bank.

Source: Christian Science Monitor, 3/28/16, Food Waste Artist

healthy food - NEW PLAN TO REDUCE FOOD WASTE - SIBEJO

A new plan offers a roadmap for the U.S. to reduce food waste by 20% within a decade while also creating thousands of jobs and could save consumers billions of dollars. The report from a nonprofit and corporate collaboration known as ReFED divides food waste solutions into three categories: prevention, recovery, and recycling. Proposed measures focus heavily on preventing food waste in the first place. For one, the report suggests food companies should adjust packaging to discourage waste. Portions should be smaller and packaging should be designed to prevent food from spoiling. Distributors should invest in technology to eliminate food waste during transport. Prevention methods would help save roughly $8 billion and prevent 2.6 million tons of food from being wasted.

Source: Time, 3/9/16, Food Waste