Americans Waste $450 Million Worth of Food on Thanksgiving

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I’m Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

Research into food waste always presents eye-opening statistics, but when we look at it during what Shawn Shepherd of ReFED calls the “food holiday,” those statistics are downright staggering.

In the U.S., 35% of all food goes unsold or uneaten. We’re talking on an annual scale. That is almost 90 billion meals’ worth of food. It's valued at $418 billion.

So what is Thanksgiving’s share? I spoke with Shawn on Wednesday…

“Americans are going to waste 305 million pounds of food. And that’s food worth $450 million.”

Doing the rough math, she says this equates to every single person in America wasting a pound of food on Thanksgiving…

“Just what we’re throwing away could feed every hungry American 6-and-a-half meals. That’s just what we’re throwing away.”

Cook consciously, make sure you have a plan for those leftovers, and get a to-go container for anybody that might be coming to your home for the holidays.

Again Shawn Shepherd of ReFED. They are a national nonprofit that leverages a holistic view of the food system to collaborate with key audiences and generate large-scale, meaningful impact.