Why can't food thrown away by restaurants and households be distributed to the starving effeciently?
Answer:
This is a good point, and a difficult one to accept. Your intentions are admirable, so I'm treating this seriously.
First, not all throw-away food is equal. For instance, scraps should not be re-used (unless you use your own meat trimmings or cuttings from veggies for making broth) for sanitary reasons, and spoiled foods should simply be discarded.
Note that there is a movement, Freeganism, whose adherents scavenge for what restaurants throw out (including dumpster diving, but usually I hear they just go to restaurants as they're ready to close and ask if there's anything they're just going to throw away; many are helpful). I have a link below.
Gathering leftover food in a safe and sanitary manner for redistribution to the food insecure is not an easy task and therefore faces high hurdles such that only large-scale collection makes it worth it. At some large events (conventions, weddings, etc.) the sponsoring party can request a food bank to come and take the leftovers, but there are strict rules on how this is to be done, again keeping safety in mind.
Generally the food bank representative must observe preparation of the food to ensure safety, and observe the serving of the food for the same reason. Then, the rep must package the food quickly once all has been served and put it in a refrigeration truck to be kept at a constant safe temperature until it is served to the starving.
Note the great expense entailed and large amount of work. This presents a hurdle and precludes small-scale work such as restaurants and certainly home meals.
The best way for households and restaurants to help the starving is by keeping price pressure on food low by minimizing wasted food through portion control and careful handling. The restaurant I worked at to put myself through college routinely threw away dozens of rolls a night. I suggested we chop up the rolls, soak them overnight in the fridge in butter, oil, garlic and seasoning, then bake them the next morning to make our own croutons. This cut down on some of the waste and saved money because we no longer had to buy croutons from corporate.well, until corporate figured out what we were doing said they wanted to present a "standard image" of everything, including our stupid croutons.
Now restaurants are incredibly wasteful, but that waste is difficult to reign in. Consider buffet-style foods, which is entirely thrown away at the end of the night. However, hot foods are only safe for such a length of time, even under the heat lamps (these do not sterilize food as cooking does, but only keep it warm for the consumers) and to eat them afterward poses the risk of botulism. Cold foods are generally kept cold enough to be safe, and leftovers are re-used.
Consider now restaurants. Much is wasted in terms of product that is, say, overcooked. A steak ordered medium-rare but cooked well-done (a simple cut with a knife can tell without ever causing the spread of germs) can be re-used, and burnt chicken can be thrown into soup. However, safety laws exist such that food that is brought to the front-of-the-house (eating area) cannot be brought into the back-of-the-house (cooking area) except to be discarded. This is because, while restaurants must be kept clean, the kitchens are held to a very high standard of sanitation. Now, whether these standards are actually upheld is another story, but this is the way they SHOULD be, according to law.
Again, I admire your intent. You can help by cutting down on your waste at home, buying only what you need, using leftovers (ie, cooked rice for fried rice or rice pudding, scraps of vegetables for soups, trimmings of meats for gravies), etc. Re-use oil for frying by letting it cool, scooping out the food bits, and storing the remainder in a mason jar in your fridge (only for a few days). When you go to a restaurant, bring your own to-go containers and put half of it in there first-thing. If you go at the end of the night, ask if there's anything they're going to throw out, and offer a discounted price for the foods (we used to toss out cream soups because they reheat poorly; I often took some home with me for making pot pies) if they don't want to give them to you.
Lastly, try not to patronize buffets or for that matter eat out a lot at all. Eating out is very wasteful, though sometimes unavoidable.
you mean like the scraps and left overs? what about the dignity of those who would receive it?
would you propose collecting it at the restaurant each night, putting into a fedex box and then flying it to africa and parachuting it in?
logistics is the problem - from too many points to too many points.
There are places that do that - usually on a small scale though.
It is difficult because most programs for feeding the poor come from the federal government - and everyone gets bogged down in liability and bureaocracy.
We need to streamline some of those programs - spend less money on management, and more getting food to those who need it. Getting more people involved on a local level is the key.
Where's the dignity in digging your scraps out of a garbage can dwalkercpa?
It can't be distributed because of left wing loonies that think it's undignified to treat people that way. They think it's better to let them starve.
Near the area where I live they tried to start a program to distribute meat from deer that had been hit by cars to some of the shelters. It was stopped by so called "supporters" of homeless people because it wasn't dignified to feed people "roadkill". Who cares if a deer was killed by a car or shot in the head. So instead of nice meal of venison with potatoes now our homeless eat canned peaches.
Lunacy.
the FDA and State inspectors would never allow it
I know this thought you have is meant for good intentions, but there are to many obstacles to overcome.
First, we would potentially be spreading viral and bacterial diseases from ourselves to the receipeints.
Secondly many foods we eat are perishable and have a limited shelf life, and although the same foods could be frozen again it would likely experience off tempature periods in which it may begin to harbour disease.
Third, quite simply logistics, like one other member said, to many places and not enough people to adequately distribute the food.
Because the Gov does not want ppl to get ahead!
I was getting wonderful vegetables & fruit & gallons of milk that was not expired & even lunchmeat by the ton!This was only a little of what i was getting & distributing amoungst my friends & neighbors with kids!
It all came from a Major Grocery Chain which i will not name.
Someone called CPS on me & told them I was making my kids climb in dumpsters for food!
THe store gave it to me,but they had to set it in boxes in the dumpster ,because the state Govornment said it had to be thrown away!
There was nothing wrong with it & we did all the work of transporting & cleaning it & dividing it.We were on easy street & doing a Godly work towards others.
I almost lost my kids over this!
Now we cannot get food stamps because they say we get too much money & I have to let bills go to feed us.
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