Essay On Fast Food In America

Each year, an estimated 70 billion pounds of food are wasted in America. We turn up our noses at a bruised apple, at a carton of milk that’s a few days past its expiration date, at unappetizing and overcooked broccoli. We sigh, say “Oh well,” and shrugging our shoulders, we throw perfectly edible food into the trash. Supermarkets dump out trays of slightly wilted kale, and they throw out the pallet of applesauce because cans on one side were damaged (never mind the cans on the other side that were still in perfect shape). Secure in our privilege, in our position as a wealthy country, we destroy food like a child destroys a Barbie. Of course, this is not just done for the fun of it. There are a number of reasons why we waste such excessive amounts of food.

A key problem we face is the appearance of the food. We live in such an appearance driven society that the lopsided carrot is deemed unsellable, so why not just toss it? The average American consumer won’t want the misshapen pepper, so into the garbage heap it goes. Granted, some of this produce is funneled to animal feed, but the amount of produce deemed too ugly to sell by …show more content…
Often, there’s a problem that goes deeper, to the manufacturer. For all food items except infant formula and some baby food (and dairy in certain states), expiration/best by/sell by dates are completely voluntary. In nearly all cases, this date does not indicate the day that the food will be spoiled and completely inedible. Instead, it marks the last day that the food will be at peak quality. But in some cases, it doesn’t even do that. While it did not happen in America, an interesting case related to milk sell by dates happened recently in Greece. In an attempt to stop importers of foreign milk, a law was passed stating that milk’s sell by date must be one week after it was collected. This ruling made it nearly impossible for the cheaper foreign milk to pass through customs before it