So I reached out to the corporate HQ of several major supermarket chains. Frustrated, I decided to call the stores I shop at directly, using yogurt as a test case. How long before a container of yogurt expires, I asked, would it remain on the shelf?
As a whole, employees seemed fairly foggy on store policy. A manager at Lucky told me he thought that employees left yogurt out until two or three days before its expiration date, then threw it away. Manager: It gets distressed. Some grocery stores may donate produce items to animal farms , or sell the excess cheaply to farmers to feed their stock. Many grocery stores also get rid of bread and dairy products this way. If produce starts to go bad, a grocery store may attempt to compost it. Many grocery stores have access to separate greenwaste collection so that they can compost produce, bread, and some other products.
The leftover food is tossed into a large dumpster , which is periodically emptied and taken to a composting facility. Other food is thrown out, sometimes in locked dumpsters to prevent liability issues related to dumpster diving. Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a SmartCapitalMind researcher and writer.
Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors. According to a FMI Supermarkets and Food Bank study, more than half of the 8, supermarkets surveyed donated , pounds of product that they could not sell to food banks annually. Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank, which serves over 1, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, food pantries, and other charity agencies, is one recipient.
According to Executive Director John Arnold, up to 40 percent of the food that they receive is close to expiring or already expired. If there is any doubt over the safety or the quality of a product, the bank's certified dietician will be brought in and subject it to a formal testing procedure.
When it comes to a perishable item, there are clear indicators of quality. But despite general confidence among food banks that expired foods can be safely distributed to their agencies, not everyone agrees. According to Anne Goodman, executive director of the Cleveland Foodbank in Ohio, "when we get retail products from grocery stores we sort out products which are past their expiration date and we throw them away.
We never take a chance. If you see Leia Mondragon, 24, rifling through trash outside the grocery stores of Manhattan's West Village, don't be tempted to offer her your loose change. Unlike the homeless or needy who must resort to picking from trash, Mondragon's penchant for outdated foods is a lifestyle choice. Mondragan insists that expiration dates exist to propel consumerism.
This belief is shared by many of her fellow Freegans -- a community who subsist on minimal consumption and salvaged goods. At least twice a month and sometimes more, Mondragon arms herself with bags or a cart and goes foraging through New York City's urban jungle either by herself or with friends. In the evening, stores will leave their trash outside on the sidewalk awaiting collection from garbage trucks that come around one or two in the morning.
The Freegans ensure they arrive before the trucks to avoid losing their spoils. We've survived by sensing what is good for us and what is not. Furthermore, as she picks up her food only a couple of hours after it has been dumped, even produce and fresh meat will not likely spoil from lack of refrigeration.
In fact, spoilage is something that Freegan Sowmya Reddy has never experienced from eating outdated foods from the trash. Neither has she seen any vermin mixed up with her dinner. Having recently moved to New York City from Bangalore, India, for her post-graduate studies, Reddy has even been able to find a taste of home in the trash. When she wants Indian ingredients like chilies and spices, she heads down to Manhattan's Murray Hill, which is full of Indian grocery stores.
Mondragon knows exactly where to go for bagels, broccoli rabe, kale, especially ripe mangoes, and even cupcakes. Venture past the Crumbs bakery on West 8th in Manhattan at 9 p. Just don't fight her for them. There's plenty to go around, she says.
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