MORE THAN ONE-FOURTH OF U.S. FOOD WASTED, USDA STUDY FINDS

                                            Release No. 0212.97
                                                               
                                   Laura Trivers (202) 720-4623
                                         laura.trivers@usda.gov
                                     Maria Bynum (202) 720-5192
                                           maria.bynum@usda.gov




     SAN DIEGO, July 1, 1997--More than one-fourth of all the food produced
in the United States is wasted, according to a new USDA study, the first of
its kind in 20 years to examine and quantify food loss. 

     "Whenever I speak about the importance of food recovery and gleaning,
people always ask me,  How much food is really wasted?'" Glickman said. 
"Until now, the only estimates were 20 years old.  This study is significant
for defining the problem of food waste today. And, understanding where and
how much food is lost is an important step in reducing that waste and
increasing the efficiency of food recovery efforts."   

     Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today released the USDA study here
at the annual meeting of Second Harvest, the largest domestic charitable
relief organization in the country.
     
     The study, conducted by USDA's Economic Research Service, found that
in 1995 about 96 billion pounds of food, or 27 percent of the 356 billion
pounds of the food available for human consumption in the United States,
were lost at the retail, consumer and food service levels. Fresh fruits and
vegetables, fluid milk, grain products, and sweeteners accounted for two-thirds of these losses. 

      "By recovering a fraction of this lost food, we could get food to
those in need, instead of tossing it into the dumpster," said Glickman, who
has made gleaning and food recovery one of his highest personal priorities. 

     "On average, each of us consumes about 3 pounds of food a day.  If
even 5 percent of the 96 billion pounds were recovered, that would represent
a day's food for 4 million people.  If we recovered 10 percent or even 25
percent, that would provide food for 8 million, or 20 million people
respectively," Glickman said.

     In addition, if that same 5 percent of retail, food service, and
consumer food losses in 1995 were recovered, rather than discarded as solid
waste, about $50 million dollars annually could be saved in solid waste
disposal costs for landfills alone.

     ERS looked only at food loss by retailers, consumers and food service
establishments.  Preharvest, on-the-farm, and farm-to-retail or wholesale
losses were not measured.

     Secretary Glickman also announced that the National Summit on Food
Recovery and Gleaning will be held September 17-18 in Washington, D.C. with
satellite downlink sites around the country.  The Summit will be sponsored
jointly by USDA and four leading non-profit anti-hunger groups: Second
Harvest, the Chef and the Child Foundation, Food Chain, and the
Congressional Hunger Center. 

     Under Secretary Glickman's leadership USDA has established a gleaning
and food recovery hotline (1-800 GLEAN-IT); published a Citizen's Guide to
Food Recovery, a resource for non-profits, local and state governments and
individuals; and held several round tables around the country to find ways
to overcome barriers to food donation.

     Glickman also chairs the Interagency Task Force on Gleaning and Food
Recovery, created by President Clinton to facilitate gleaning and food
recovery among government agencies.

     Copies of the article will be available today on the Internet at 
www.econ.ag.gov/whatsnew/feature.


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