Be a Food Hero: Come Learn How to Stop Food Waste (March 7)

Upcoming December Workshops from Burnaby Food First

FREE Event for Hungry Minds: Just Eat It!

Want to tickle your taste buds & chat with a film star?

Save the date: Tuesday, November 29, 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Join us at: Burnaby Central Secondary (Map)
Space is limited: REGISTER HERE

 
Join Burnaby Food First & ACE-IT Culinary Arts Program at Burnaby Central on November 29th. Meet fellow food enthusiasts, learn about food waste and how to reduce it.
Schedule: 
6:00pm - Enjoy delicious appetizers prepared by
                ACE-IT Culinary Arts students
6:30pm - Watch award-winning documentary
                "Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story"
7:45pm - Discussion with producer & co-star
               Jen Rustemeyer

Teachers & Student Mentors:
Want to have a food waste discussion in the classroom, but don't know where to start? Click here for some Just Eat It resources, including books, articles, blogs & policy documents from Canada and the United States.

Can't Wait for November 29th?
Check out Jen's presentation at Burnaby Food First's Food Matters Forum last June:

             This event is made possible thanks to 
               the generous support of our donors

Be a food hero: learn how to rescue food

Join Burnaby Food First on Tuesday, November 29 for a film screening about food waste and food rescue. Registration details for our "Just Eat It" event are coming soon!

Doing More with your Bread Basket

Doing More with your Bread Basket

What: Learn what to do with your leftover bread, pita, tortilla & rolls
When: Monday, October 17th, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Where: Tommy Douglas Branch, Burnaby Public Library
Cost: FREE
Registration Required:
Contact Meghan by e-mail: burnabyfoodfirst@gmail.com, or phone: 604-209-2404

Tackling Food Insecurity By Dealing with Food Waste

A few weeks ago on May 21, a new law was unanimously approved in France prohibiting large supermarkets from throwing out food that was not sold. Instead, supermarkets will be mandated to donate any surplus groceries to charities. Food that is unsafe to eat will be donated to farms for agricultural and livestock purposes. The French politician whose grassroots movement led to this law has plans to globalize this campaign.

The financial costs of food wastage in the world are estimated to be substantial amounting to $1 trillion USD each year. The news about this legislation, as reported by the Guardian and other media recently, highlighted the issue of food waste even as food insecurity worldwide persists. (Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization)

Credit: Magnolia Lim

Feeding the 5000 Vancouver

Also in May, the Feeding the 5000 event took place in Vancouver, which aimed to feed 5,000 people using food and produce that is nutritious and good quality even though aesthetically imperfect or close to its 'best before' date. The event highlighted the same issue of food waste. 

In Canada, there are on-going discussions about tax incentives and credits for charitable food donations such as proposals by Food Banks Canada and the National Zero Waste Council founded by Metro Vancouver. Another initiative in the private sector is that of the Loblaws grocery chain, offering discounts of as much as 30 percent for misshapen fruits and vegetables under their 'Naturally Imperfect' no-name brand. 

Such measures to tackle food waste ultimately help to improve economic accessibility of food by making good food more readily available at lower prices or through food banks. Accessibility is an important element of food security as discussed in the previous post that is part of this series.

What We Can Do

Individuals and households can do their bit by reducing food waste in personal consumption and by donating excess food that is good to eat. The David Suzuki Foundation provides some further facts and a handy tip sheet.

Support for and participation in recycling programs is another way. In Metro Vancouver, since January 2015, there has been a ban to dispose of organic waste in garbage destined for landfills. Food waste not only squanders valuable resources but also endangers the environment due to the methane that leftover food emits in landfills. 

Feature: Tackling Household Food Waste

Everyone knows that we often eat too much, but those extra calories are not only a threat to our health -- they're also a threat to global security.

The costs associated with food waste are significant: the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that one-third of food produced to feed people globally is lost as it moves from field to plate.

Source: Thinkstock

Food waste not only costs money but it's a major contributor in landfills and to the production of greenhouse gases. When food is wasted, the agricultural resources, such as soil and water, that are used to produce the food are also lost.

Some of this food is lost during the production stage to pests, some is lost during harvest or processing, and some is lost in storage.

Household Food Waste

In Canada, 51 percent of food waste is generated in the home, with more than $1,000 a year in food thrown in the kitchen trash per Canadian family.

The fact that food is cheaper now than it used to be exacerbates the situation; consumers are perhaps less worried about maximizing its use. 

Keep in mind, we're not talking about the strawberries or cucumbers that have been hiding in your fridge long enough to cultivate grey fuzz all over or the tomatoes that are wrinkly and covered in gross green splotches. We're talking about edible food that simply gets thrown out.

Why? Partly because we may load our plates with portions we cannot finish, and partly because we throw out food based on best before labels, even if we're not reading them correctly or the food is still good. Mostly, however, we seem to toss food because, unlike many other places on earth, food is cheap to us.

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

So, what can we do to help reduce household food waste? Check out some of these tips (source).

1. Take produce out of plastic bags. Airtight wrappings can suffocate fresh produce  and speed up the decay process.

2. Do not wash produce until you are ready to eat it. Moisture encourages decomposition and mould growth, and washing can also remove natural protective coatings on your food.

3. Do not rip off fruit stems; keep produce whole as long as possible. Once living cells are broken, micro-organisms begin to grow.

4. Eat the most perishable food items first. Berries (especially when ripe and in season) last a few days, whereas potatoes and winter squash can last for a month or longer if stored properly.

5. Reorganize your fridge. Some foods are better stored in the fridge, while others, such as winter squash, avocados, garlic, and tubers fair better on the counter or in a dark, dry cupboard..

6. If you have food scraps remaining, put them into your green bin for food scraps or your home compost. If you live in an apartment and/or do not have access to a food scrap recycling program or a composter, consider diverting food scraps from the landfill by bringing household food waste to your local Food Scraps Drop Spot. (Want to learn more? Check out our Composting Series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.)

Resources

BBC Horizons, "Food waste: Looking at ways to reduce global food wastage"
Globe and Mail, "How much in food do Canadians waste a year?"
CBC News, "Food waste, overeating threaten global security"
Edmonton Journal, "Canadians trash $27 billion worth of food a year"