by Marie Kauna – EMTV Online, Port Moresby
While recent global food production estimates say commodity prices will drop, United States Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, has announced a goal to cut the amount of food that is wasted by Americans.
Joined by food-industry representatives and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency in New York City, Vilsack announced the goal of reducing food waste by 50 per cent by 2030 saying that “The United States enjoys the most productive and abundant food supply on Earth, so much of the food goes to waste”.
According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, Americans waste 133 billion pounds of food every year, or 31 per cent of their overall food supply.
The proposed goal is to reduce food waste, as it is believed that this waste ends up in landfill and in turn affects the environment. And obviously, it also sees many still go hungry.
The campaign of cutting food waste includes educating consumers about how long to keep food before it must be thrown away as waste.
With help from the recently used USDA Mobile App ‘FoodKeeper’, it will assist the flow of the campaign to achieving the goal of reducing the amount of food waste across the United States.
