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Consumer Food Waste In the United States

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  • Gallo, Anthony E.

Abstract

Large domestic food supplies, a declining share of family income spent for food, and relatively stable food prices in past years have lessened the importance of food waste as a priority issue. As a result, strongly supportable estimates of consumer food waste are not available. However, recent food price inflation and concerns about resource conservation have focused more attention on determining food loss. The emergence of new U.S. dietary guidelines, which recommend changes in consumer eating habits, also strengthens the need to know what is eaten - not just what is purchased. This report is a summary of what is known about consumer food waste in the United States. Empirical estimates from studies using four different research procedures are reviewed. The estimates are widely divergent, indicating that from 7 to 35 percent of all food purchased for use at home is wasted. Part of the wide range in the estimates is explained by the differences in definitions of waste, by the study methodology, and by the characteristics of the sample households.

Suggested Citation

  • Gallo, Anthony E., 1980. "Consumer Food Waste In the United States," Food Review/ National Food Review, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 0(1), December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersfr:281040
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.281040
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    Cited by:

    1. Fonseca, Jaime R.S., 2014. "A Latent Class Model to discover Household Food Waste Patterns in Lisbon City in Support of Food Security, Public Health and Environmental Protection," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 4(3), pages 1-14, February.
    2. Pasquale Falcone & Enrica Imbert & Andrea Morone & Marcello Morone & Piergiuseppe Morone, 2016. "New consumers behaviours in the sharing economy: an experimental analysis on food waste reduction," Framed Field Experiments 00414, The Field Experiments Website.
    3. Chinie Alexandra-Catalina, 2020. "Challenges for reducing food waste," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 819-828, July.
    4. Dorothy Blair & Jeffery Sobal, 2006. "Luxus Consumption: Wasting Food Resources Through Overeating," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(1), pages 63-74, March.
    5. Kantor, Linda Scott, 1998. "A Dietary Assessment of the U.S. Food Supply: Comparing Per Capita Food Consumption with Food Guide Pyramid Serving Recommendations," Agricultural Economic Reports 34079, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Mary Griffin & Jeffery Sobal & Thomas Lyson, 2009. "An analysis of a community food waste stream," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(1), pages 67-81, March.
    7. Bunch, Karen, 1985. "U.S. Food Consumption On the Rise," Food Review/ National Food Review, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 0(1), June.
    8. Buzby, Jean C. & Hyman, Jeffrey, 2012. "Total and per capita value of food loss in the United States," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 561-570.
    9. Buzby, Jean C. & Farah-Wells, Hodan & Hyman, Jeffrey, 2014. "The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States," Economic Information Bulletin 164262, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    10. Kantor, Linda Scott & Lipton, Kathryn & Manchester, Alden & Oliveira, Victor, 1997. "Estimating and Addressing America's Food Losses," Food Review/ National Food Review, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 20(1), pages 1-11.
    11. Morone, Piergiuseppe & Falcone, Pasquale Marcello & Imbert, Enrica & Morone, Marcello & Morone, Andrea, 2016. "Tackling Food Waste through a sharing economy approach: an experimental analysis," MPRA Paper 70626, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    Keywords

    Consumer/Household Economics;

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