By Willow (willowashmaple.sbs)
Aug. 13, 2025
According to a USDA estimate (2022), roughly one-third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted. In a peer-reviewed research paper published in the Science magazine (2018), this accounts for 24 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions attributable to food production, and 6 percent of total global GHG emissions. This figure does not include methane emissions from landfills due to aerobic decomposition of thrown-away food. Combined, food waste is one of the major human-related causes of climate change.
In other words, we waste a lot of food. Typical suburban, middle-class U.S. shoppers would fill up their massive supermarket shopping carts once a week, whether or not they really need all these things. And a lot of this ends up in the trash. While an increasing number of cities now allow collections of food scraps in the yard debris bins, thanks to an improved compost system, the most important step one can take is to reduce the waste in the first place.
Too often, American consumers throw away perfectly good and edible food because they are "expired." What they do not know, however, is that the "sell-by" or "use-by" dates on food packaging are not defined by any regulation or scientific facts (with the sole exception of baby formulas, regulated by the FDA), and are rather set by manufacturers to boost their profit margins by ensuring that retailers frequently restock and rotate their inventories. In fact, it is not even illegal to sell "expired" food in the U.S., but most retailers want to project the image that everything they sell is "fresh," so they often dispose of items that are well before their "sell-by" dates. In other words, this is one big scam that shortchanges consumers and harms the planet.
p.s.: There used to be two stores in North Portland that only sold "expired" food that they purchased from major supermarkets and distributors for pennies on the dollar. Plew's Market and 3 Boys Market served what were then considered low-income neighborhoods well and are sorely missed.
"Use-by" dates: A myth that needs busting
Food waste and its links to greenhouse gases and climate change
Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions
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