Food Waste: It’s Not What You Think

The most important source of food waste is not uneaten portions that end up in the trash. According to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the biggest issue is animal-based food products. Replacing these products with plant-based foods would feed more people with less waste. Researchers compared the impact of plant-based replacements for animal-based products on environmental resources they termed “opportunity food losses,” including cropland use and retail-to-consumer waste. Plant-based food replacements of the most resource-intensive animal-based products, including beef, pork, dairy, poultry, and eggs, would produce up to 20-fold more nutritious food with the same land requirements. These results suggest a dietary shift away from all animal products in the U.S. would yield enough food for an additional 350 million people.