FoodReview: From Farm to Table: The Economics of Food Safety; Estimating and Addressing America's Food Losses

Rosanna Mentzer Morrison, Economics Editor

FoodReview No. (FR-20-1) August 1997

About this magazine

This issue of FoodReview contains an article that does just that—providing the best estimates in decades of how much food is wasted in America. Even without including losses on farms and orchards and losses in wholesaling and manufacturing, over 96 billion pounds of food is discarded each year. Yes, that’s billion. Not only is this a tragic loss in terms of the number of hungry Americans who could benefit from this food, but such waste also increases disposal costs by an estimated $1 billion a year for municipalities across the Nation.

This issue of FoodReview also has important articles on the related topic of food safety. USDA is dedicated to using the most up-to-date science available to detect and reduce foodborne illnesses.

In this report ...

Articles are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

• Frontmatter (Upfront, Contents, An Introduction from the Secretary of Agriculture), 43 kb
• Estimating and Addressing America's Food Losses, 91 kb
• Perspective: Economic Issues Related to New Food-Safety Initiatives, 11 kb
• USDA Modernizes Meat and Poultry Inspection, 46 kb
• New Uniform Standards for Pesticide Residues in Food, 73 kb
• Raw and Undercooked Eggs: A Danger of Salmonellosis, 73 kb
• Irradiating Ground Beef To Enhance Food Safety, 58 kb
• Valuing Risk Reduction: The Example of Nitrates in Drinking Water, 122 kb
• Many Elderly at Nutritional Risk, 70 kb
• Food-Assistance Spending Held Steady in 1996, 81 kb

Order this report (stock #FR-20-1)

Past Issues ­ pdf format

Updated date: August 1997