Vegans Waste More than Meat/Dairy Eaters.
‘Waste not, Want not’. My grandma use to say that a lot; it means ‘to not waste something because you might need it in the future’. In a study published in Plos, April 18, 2018, titled “Relationship between food waste, diet quality, and environmental sustainability”, it revealed that higher quality diets were associated with greater amounts of food waste and greater amounts of wasted irrigation water and pesticides, but less cropland waste. This is largely due to fruits and vegetables, which are health-promoting and require small amounts of cropland, but require substantial amounts of agricultural inputs. These results suggest that simultaneous efforts to improve diet quality and reduce food waste are necessary. Increasing consumers’ knowledge about how to prepare and store fruits and vegetables will be one of the practical solutions to reducing food waste. Americans waste about a pound of food per person each day and it appears that Vegans and Plant Based diets waste more food than Meat and Dairy eaters. About 150,000 tons of food is tossed out in US households each day; fruit and vegetables were the most likely to be thrown out, followed by dairy then meat. That means that people who have healthier diets rich in fruit and vegetables are the most wasteful! And that’s a problem? This waste has an environmental toll with rotting food clogging up landfills and releasing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Researchers at the US Department of Agriculture analysed eight years of food data, up to 2014. This indicates that higher quality diets were associated with greater amounts of food waste and greater amounts of wasted irrigation water and pesticides, but less cropland waste. This is largely due to fruits and vegetables, which are health-promoting and require small amounts of cropland, but require substantial amounts of agricultural inputs. These results suggest that simultaneous efforts to improve diet quality and reduce food waste are necessary. Increasing consumers’ knowledge about how to prepare and store fruits and vegetables will be one of the practical solutions to reducing food waste. A study by the Center for Biological Diversity, found that just four of the 10 largest grocery chains in the US have specific food waste reduction commitments. Walmart achieved the highest grade, a B, while Aldi US was the worst. Trader Joe’s, Target and Whole Foods all did poorly, ranked with a D. Dr. Jahn, the lead in the study stated “Consumers aren’t connecting the dots; they don’t see the cost when they throw food in the trash.” Here we have information that seemed to be hidden yet, now appears to be very important for sustainability for our future. Guess we better connect the dots. Stay Healthy My Friends, Vegan Doc
