Bipartisan caucus seeks to address food waste

Rep. Chellie Pingree, a democrat serving the state of Maine, and Rep. David Young, a republican constituent of Iowa, announced in an April 30 statement that they were launching a bipartisan House Food Waste Caucus to explore opportunities to reduce food waste.
 
The statement noted that an estimated 40 percent of food produced in the U.S. goes to waste and that U.S. consumers waste almost one pound of food per person, per day, according to a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service report.  
 
“Food waste is a staggering problem and a lost opportunity. It wastes resources, takes a toll on the environment, and costs families, farmers and businesses billions of dollars each year. And it’s unthinkable that perfectly good food is going to waste when 50 million Americans don’t always know where their next meal will come from,” Pingree says. “I’m proud to launch this bipartisan caucus to identify commonsense solutions for preventing food waste and putting food to good use instead of pitching it into a landfill.” 

“Many Iowans struggle to put food on the table while we also waste significant amounts of food each day,” Young says. "I’m proud to join Rep. Pingree to find commonsense solutions to reuse leftover or expired food and to find ways to reduce the amount of food needlessly dumped into landfills."
 
The bipartisan House Food Waste Caucus will look at ways to promote food waste reduction across the food supply chain, provide educational opportunities to congressional members and staff, support efforts to reduce food waste at federal agencies including the USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and collaborate with diverse stakeholders to highlight food waste success stories.