Secretary of Agriculture hosts industry roundtable on preventing food waste

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue hosted a food waste roundtable with Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Rep. David Young (R-Iowa), food industry leaders and nonprofit groups at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) May 8. This roundtable, the first of many planned USDA public events on food waste, served as an opportunity to raise awareness while allowing leaders throughout the food supply chain to discuss solutions.

While food loss and waste accounts for nearly 40 percent of the food supply in the U.S., millions of Americans need access to safe, wholesome, affordable food, USDA said during the roundtable. Consumers are responsible for most food loss and waste in the U.S., racking up almost 90 billion pounds annually, or 20 percent of the U.S. food supply. The retail sector is responsible for about 10 percent, totaling 43 billion pounds.

The USDA aims to address this problem by working with farmers, industry and consumers to raise food loss and waste awareness and share best practices.

Below is a full list of the food waste roundtable participants:

• Rep. Pingree
• Rep. Young
• Haley Swartz, National Consumers League
• Regina Northouse, Food Recovery Network
• Katie Sandson, Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic
• Matt Knott, Feeding America
• Jon Hixson, YUM! Brands Inc.
• Jessica Montoya, Sodexo
• Kyle Waide, Atlanta Community Food Bank
• Brett Reinford, Reinford Farms, PA
• Mace Thornton, American Farm Bureau Federation
• Ricky Ashenfelter, Spoiler Alert
• Kai Robertson, World Resources Institute

Following the roundtable, Perdue issued the following statement:

“Our nation’s agricultural abundance should be used to nourish those in need, not fill the trash,” Perdue said. “So many people work on food waste issues in their own spheres, but it’s time to change the culture and adopt a holistic approach to get everyone working together and sharing ideas. I commend Reps. Pingree and Young for addressing this issue on Capitol Hill and for their desire to find collaborative, commonsense solutions. USDA remains committed to helping reduce food waste, and we are excited to work with all stakeholders from farm to fork to further elevate this effort and fulfill our motto, to ‘do right and feed everyone.’”