In a world where so many are hungry, this is a disgrace:
Americans throw away almost as much food as they eat because of a “cult of perfection”, deepening hunger and poverty, and inflicting a heavy toll on the environment.
Vast quantities of fresh produce grown in the US are left in the field to rot, fed to livestock or hauled directly from the field to landfill, because of unrealistic and unyielding cosmetic standards, according to official data and interviews with dozens of farmers, packers, truckers, researchers, campaigners and government officials.
From the fields and orchards of California to the population centres of the east coast, farmers and others on the food distribution chain say high-value and nutritious food is being sacrificed to retailers’ demand for unattainable perfection.
“It’s all about blemish-free produce,” says Jay Johnson, who ships fresh fruit and vegetables from North Carolina and central Florida. “What happens in our business today is that it is either perfect, or it gets rejected. It is perfect to them, or they turn it down. And then you are stuck.”
You can read the rest @
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/13/us-food-waste-ugly-fruit-vegetables-perfect
The US "way of life" and the corporate insanity it has spawned are clearly bad for humanity.
Q: But now that Bernie Sanders and the rest of the US political establishment have betrayed us, just how in hell can we ever change this disaster into something that serves We The People?
A: Here's one idea - demand that our troops be brought home, turned into a Civilian Service Corps, and get them to harvest, collect, and distribute free of charge this discarded food. We could save $500 billion in the process.
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