Grocery Gleaning: Second Harvest Reduces Food Waste

There's a second harvest going on in my neighborhood. It's a harvest that happens throughout the year, regardless of the season or the weather. What is it? It's a harvest of unused fruits and vegetables from the local grocery stores.

A long, long time ago, I was in high school. I was interested in canning, so I went to the local grocery store to buy some pears. A staff person was loading the overripe pears into a cart. I asked to buy the pears so that I could can them that day, but I was told that they were no longer suitable for sale. When I asked the management of the store, they confirmed that they needed to move out the older produce and replace it with newer items that people would buy.

Things have changed, at least somewhat. Now we recognize that a vast quantity of food is wasted in grocery stores. There is also recognition that people can still eat much of this food - it's not overripe, it's just too ripe to sell. Yes, it's an issue that is carefully monitored by health departments, but food banks and soup kitchens have started grocery store gleaning programs, and they're getting fruit and vegetables into the hands and mouths of those who need them. Even college campuses are getting into the act. Determined to reduce the amount of food that is wasted from campus cafeterias, the Campus Kitchen Project redirects cafeteria food to those in need. Student volunteers deliver the meals.

In rural areas, farmers have invited people into the fields to harvest excess or blemished fruit and vegetables. Like the gleaners who go into farmers' fields to collect the food that would otherwise go to waste, these urban gleaners are reducing waste and finding a new source of food in an urban setting. While some might wonder about the health implications of harvesting unwanted fruits and vegetables, in our area it is the local health authority that is funding some of the new gleaning programs. They recognize that without fruits and vegetables, it's harder to be healthy, and these items are the least available at food banks.

Food waste occurs at many levels of the food supply chain. Farmers may not harvest all of a crop. The food sold in grocery stores is discarded before it can be purchased. Families throw out food before they eat it - every year, the average British family throws out food that is worth 420 British pounds. And at each step of the chain, people can do something to stop the waste and to make our food system more sustainable. Food sustainability is not always about improving what and how we grow our food - it's also about using what we have, and using it wisely.