Monday, February 25, 2013

TedTalk - The Global Food Waste Scandal


To give you an idea of the gargantuan nature of our food waste problem, check out this TedTalk examining global food waste. What I found most revelatory was Stewarts metaphor for food supply and waste using biscuits, specifically the fact that 2/9 of our food supply is wasted by way of livestock digestion and excretion. The reason this is considered waste as opposed to inevitable byproduct is because food waste in the form of "cosmetically imperfect" foods and other sources created at tail end of our supply chain can be used as feed for animals Stewart sights the foot and mouth outbreak as the reason that we no longer feed waste to livestock, but if this waste is treated to create food for pigs, we can take a huge step forward in closing the food loop.