United States: Food Waste and Production during the Pandemic

The United States has the largest number of COVID-19 cases of any country in the world. It registered more than 30 million people infected and half a million dead one year after the World Health Organization declared the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the number of new cases and deaths has decreased significantly with the advance of vaccination. After only 58 days in office, Joe Biden managed to meet his goal of vaccinating 100 million citizens in the first 100 days of his administration ahead of schedule.

Nevertheless, the problems in the country that emerged during the crisis are still far from being solved. The pandemic has significantly impacted various sectors of society, putting millions of people at risk in one of the richest nations in the world. According to the Feeding America organization, about 42 million people, one in every nine, may be starving in the United States due to the pandemic.

The number of people facing food insecurity was considerable even before COVID-19 arrived in the country. According to the latest survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 10.5% of households registered some level of insufficiency in the variety of foods they consume. More than 4% of these families were at a more severe level of insecurity. This means that they might need to skip meals or even be without food for whole days due to a lack of resources.

Even with so many hungry people, the United States remains one of the most food-wasting countries in the world. Food waste affects all stages of the production sector, but its highest rates are observed at the household level, in supermarket chains and restaurants. According to the USDA, 40% of all food available in the country is wasted, and 31% is lost when it reaches the final consumer.

The Food Waste Index Report presented by the United Nations Environment Program estimates a waste of 931 million tons of food every year worldwide, an average of 74 kilograms (163 pounds) of waste per capita. The level of wastage in households reaches 54 kg (119 pounds) per person in the United States, about 20 million tons per year. This number increases significantly considering that Americans consume a substantial part of their food away from home. An average of losses between households and food service networks reaches 123 kg (271 pounds) per inhabitant every year.

Furthermore, the closing of restaurants, hotels and educational institutions has contributed to a significant drop in the purchase of agricultural products in the country, increasing food loss. With the social distancing measures and the shutdown of establishments, many farmers found themselves without buyers for an important part of their production during the first months of the pandemic.

Losses of nearly all the production of some foods were registered in every state. Farmers in Wisconsin and Ohio disposed of thousands of gallons of fresh, ready-to-drink milk that had no further destination. During the end of March and the beginning of April 2020, 3.7 million gallons of milk were wasted per day, according to the milk marketing cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America.

Farmers also mentioned difficulty containing the production of thousands of pigs and birds, which were gassed and shot due to the drastic decrease in consumption and transportation capacity. Estimates point to the loss of more than half a million animals with the shutdown of farms and slaughterhouses.

High transportation costs and the lack of government financial support prevented much of this wasted food from going to food banks, where there were long lines of people in need of help. Therefore, we can see that not even an economic superpower like the United States can stop the impacts of the pandemic. The news about the waste of tons of food every year is outrageous in a country with more than 40 million people at food risk and in a situation as difficult as one we currently face.