How We Fight Food Waste in the US


America has more than enough food to feed everyone. But each year, billions of pounds of perfectly good food go to waste. Meanwhile, 42 million may experience hunger in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As the country's largest food rescue organization, Feeding America partners with food manufacturers, grocery stores, restaurants, and farmers to rescue food and deliver it to food banks serving our neighbors in need.

What is food waste?

Food waste is safe, high-quality food that is thrown away rather than eaten. Food waste occurs for a variety of reasons including:

  • Uneaten food that is thrown away at homes, stores, and restaurants
  • Crops left in fields because of low crop prices or too many of the same crops being available
  • Problems during the manufacturing and transportation of food
  • Food not meeting retailers' standards for color and appearance

How much food waste is there in the United States?





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Consumer-facing businesses include

Supermarkets, grocery stores,
& distribution
Full-service restaurants
Institutional & foodservice
Limited-service restaurants
Source: ReFED


What is Feeding America doing about food waste?

In 2020, the Feeding America network and our partners rescued 4 billion pounds of groceries. This includes more than 1.8 billion pounds of rescued fresh produce.

That food went directly to feed people facing hunger. This makes Feeding America the largest food rescue organizations in the country.

Food rescue, or food recovery, is the practice of collecting high-quality food that would otherwise go to waste and distributing it to people facing hunger. We work with manufacturers, retailers, and farmers to reduce food waste and get rescued food to people in need. We identify food that’s at risk of going to waste, offer rescued food to food banks, safely ship food over long distances and keep food fresh longer once it reaches a food bank.

We’re working on new ways to get perfectly good food to our neighbors who need it most including:

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