Photo Copyright: Maggie May
Our news media is reporting that nearly half of all food in the world is wasted due to sell by dates that are not realistic and to supermarkets selling *two for the price of one*, tempting us to buy more than we can eat.
When I was young, before the days of Health and Safety, hardly anything was wasted as there wasn't really that much food to go round. An egg that had been on the shelf for a long time would be put into a bowl of water and if it floated it was obviously bad. If it sunk then it was good enough to eat. We put any scraps and vegetable peelings into *piggy bins* that were collected weekly by the Council to feed the city pigs or we composted vegetable waste in the garden or allotment. How many people died of food poisoning I really don't know. I can't remember knowing anyone who did know anyone who died of it.
There generally isn't that much waste in our household and I wrap up veggie peelings and put into the Council recycle bin now that personal garden composting is a bit too heavy for me to deal with.
I was appalled by how much extra waste there was over Christmas when my grandsons were staying with me. This was mostly due to picky eating by the boys and over shopping by grown ups and finding the sell by date was long gone on food that we thought we would be needing over the holiday period but didn't.
If the statement is true about half of all food being wasted, then that is unforgivable. It would feed all the hungry in the world. What the remedy is, I really don't know, except for us all to be a bit more careful about how much we buy. However, that would only be a drop in the ocean, wouldn't it? I think the problem starts with food being thrown away long before it gets to the shops. Maybe by the farmers who have to comply with producing perfect shapes and sizes of crops before anyone would buy and throwing away perfectly good food that can't be sold.
How much food do you throw away? Do you stick to the sell by dates or do you gamble by eating it a few days later?
