Updated on 13 October 2026. The original 2008 post is kept below.
The numbers today
The 27% figure in this 2008 post came from a US government study of food lost in shops, restaurants and homes. Newer estimates are not better news. The US Food and Drug Administration now says food waste in the US is estimated at 30 to 40 percent of the food supply. Based on USDA data, that was about 133 billion pounds of food worth 161 billion dollars in 2010.
It’s a global problem too. The UN Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index Report 2024 estimates that households, shops and food service around the world wasted about 1.05 billion tonnes of food in 2022, roughly a fifth of the food available to consumers. Most of it, around 60 percent, is wasted at home.
The US and the UN have both set targets to halve food waste by 2030. The ugly truth is that the easiest fix is in our own fridges: plan meals, use leftovers, and give the wonky carrot a chance.
More food facts: browse Future Food or our Food Crimes archive.
From the 2008 original
A recent government study reveals that over one quarter of all food in the United States goes to waste every year. To be exact, 27% of all edible food goes to waste, which adds up to the astonishing total amount is 96.4 (of 356) billion pounds of food. This means that about one pound of food is thrown to the trash every day by each US citizen.
Another astonishing fact is, that currently there is about one billion people on our planet, which suffer from obesity. At the same time there is about one billion people, who suffer from constant malnutrition.
I don’t mean to preach or anything. Just makes you think, doesn’t it?
Source: www.nytimes.com
