From fertilizer to fruit leather, and even quietly repackaged for your dinner table,
what really happens with food that's past its expiration date?
Hunger Free America estimates that 54 million Americans were going hungry as of 2020. Food waste
could usually pretty easily be repurposed and do a lot to help lower the number of
food-insecure individuals living in the U.S., but actually accomplishing that task is exceptionally
difficult, particularly on a corporate level. While grocery stores may throw away
less expired food than you think, the truth is that much of it is still destined for the trash.
It's not clear just how much expired food is thrown away by grocery stores on average,
especially compared to food that's donated or sold. More than one-third
of all available food may go uneaten in the U.S.,
according to food waste-focused nonprofit ReFED. It's safe to assume that a solid
portion of those expired foods ends up rotting in a landfill instead of helping people who need it.
Thankfully, many grocery stores, including big-name places such as Walmart,
have made concerted public efforts to eliminate as much food waste as possible.
Have you ever been to a discount store and noticed some technically-expired items
sitting on the shelf? That's not an accident. Many foods remain perfectly edible even after
the expiration date has passed, and a large number of shelf-stable foods such as canned
goods or pasta remain both safe and tasty far beyond the date printed on the label.
"What they're saying to consumers is really, 'We've tested out this food,
we've had people taste it, and this is when we still think it will taste the very best.'"
Because of this, grocery stores often sell those longer-lasting,
seemingly-expired foods to reclamation centers, where it's then shipped to other, smaller stores
to be resold. In the eyes of a grocery store, any profit is better than nothing at all.
While perishable items such as produce are often earmarked for charitable donation, foods that are
unlikely to spoil rapidly may end up going this route instead, and businesses can recoup some of
the money they spend upfront on now-expired foods. It's a win-win, and less food goes into the trash.
Less-fortunate and underfed individuals may always be present until the US undergoes a
radical change, but many are unwilling to turn a blind eye towards those in need.
That's a belief shared by many grocery stores. When a grocery store finds
itself overrun with expired or soon-to-be expired foods that remain safe to eat,
that business may end up donating a big portion of it to food banks and charities.
Since expired food generally represents a sunk cost for businesses, donating expired
food may generate public goodwill for a company. That may not be the main driving
force behind a grocery chain's food donations, especially given that stores can enjoy a tax
break for food donations. Whether Walmart's donation of 696 million pounds of food to
U.S. charities in 2022 was about appearances or empathy, it still fed many hungry people.
The fact that the Earth will one day run out of fossil fuels is unavoidable. Thankfully, not
all of humanity has been sitting idly-by, waiting for that to happen and quite a few have developed
pathways to alternative and renewable energy sources that have been utilized in recent decades.
These include organic fuels, such as those made with certain expired foods from the grocery store.
The use of expired foods as fuel appears less limited than many had initially expected,
as this isn't exclusively the purview of produce. Other items like damaged and
expired canned goods or spoiled milk can also be converted into fuel through a process known
as anaerobic digestion. Currently, however, the equipment needed to do the digesting into fuel is
expensive and may present both a financial and policy speedbump to hopeful recyclers.
It's not clear how many grocery stores donate expired food products to be repurposed as fuel.
But since some Walmart stores across the globe appear to make use of this option,
according to the company's corporate sustainability page,
it may just be a matter of time before other stores begin to follow.
At first glance, a grocery store donating expired foods to be converted into animal feed may seem
like cruelty. After all, if something's not good enough for a person to eat,
then we shouldn't foist that food on any poor, unsuspecting animals,
either... right? Well, not exactly. While most expired food is still okay for humans too,
what's genuinely unsafe for humans to eat is often perfectly fine for other animals.
The practice of garbage feeding has been common among pig farmers for hundreds of years,
but today, there are many rules in place that vary from state to state to protect
animals from getting anything that's rotten or unfit for consumption. For example,
a federal regulation requires that any meat products have to be heated to 212 degrees
Fahrenheit before they reach your pet pig, but you can still feed them any table scraps
you've recently eaten. In essence, any food waste processed to feed to animals has to go
through many of the same processes that human food does, ensuring the safety of the animal.
As an added bonus, less waste and increased food sources are great for the environment.
"With your help, broccoli stalks, onion ends,
cilantro stems, and barbecue bones can help combat climate change."
After a 40-hour workweek and an obnoxious commute, you might not want to make every
meal you eat from scratch, so the pre-made meals available to grab quickly at grocery
stores can save an evening or two. What you might not know is that they often feature
expired ingredients still good for culinary use, even if they're not out for sale on the
shelves. It's a pretty safe way to repurpose food and minimize food loss and lost profits.
Former Trader Joe's president Doug Rauch took this a step further. In 2013, he created an
entire market called The Daily Table, where food slightly outside of its expiration date or
blemished produce would be turned into discounted, prepared meals for those with food insecurity.
"There's a lot of food out there that is wholesome and healthy that is just being disposed."
By 2023, The Daily Table had expanded to 4 locations in Massachusetts,
sourcing foods close to their expiration dates, with outdated branding, or surplus
foods, all given new life at discounted prices, which is great for the community.
Vendors looking to sell their goods to interested buyers often turn to
trusted online marketplace sites like Amazon, and while Amazon does its best
to ensure all sales are completely on the level, bad-faith vendors still pop up,
like those who use the site to sell expired food to unknowing customers.
Amazon isn't directly involved in the sale of expired foods through its website, but these have
included several genuinely unsafe food items such as baby formula and coffee creamer according to
CNBC. As of 2020, it was reported that the company continued to struggle with eliminating third-party
vendors eager to unload egregiously-expired foods on unsuspecting customers. Amazon told
CNBC it was an isolated issue, but it's not clear that Amazon has cracked down
on the problem. If you're purchasing food items from a sketchy vendor on Amazon, then you ought
to be prepared to potentially receive expired foods through the mail, so check those dates.
It's the circle of life. If we truly want to eliminate food waste, sometimes it's best to
avoid the trash completely. Instead, some expired foods are perfectly suited to the
compost heap, the next step to becoming fertilizer for growing more produce.
Why is it that such gross products like rotting fruits and veggies tend to make the best
fertilizer? Between all of the inedible stuff, food scraps are still full of plenty of nutrients
that just need to be broken down. Between rotting produce and animal manure, it's clear some of the
best things for sprouting plant life are often the worst smelling items in existence. Fortunately,
nature is great at filtering those things out before they get back into your mouth.
Whole Foods, H-E-B and Walmart are known to take this route,
and if you have a garden and a little bit of space, you can do the same.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that nearly a third of food
waste happens at the retail level, often the result of overstocking. Fortunately,
technology has come to the rescue, hooking up places that have overstock and soon-to-be
expired food with customers who are willing to buy it at a discount. While some apps
connect consumers specifically with restaurants getting rid of their end-of-the-day leftovers,
apps like Flashfood and Too Good To Go also help to relieve waste at the grocery store.
Participating locations are somewhat limited so be sure to check for availability in your area.
In some cases, consumers don't know what kinds of foods they'll get. Participants may
get surprise bags at significantly discounted prices containing the overstock for the day,
usually from local restaurants. The Flashfood app reveals what a grocery store has to offer,
allowing the consumer to pay for items on the app and then pick them up at the
store later. Most excitingly, aside from reducing the amount of food that goes into
the landfills each year, consumers get some really incredible deals at the grocery store,
up to 70% or more in some cases, all because they're willing to download
an app that connects them with still-edible food that would have ended up in the trash bin.
Some leftover fruits like apples and mangoes are getting a second life as tomorrow's high-fashion
offerings. A number of companies are creating vegan leather products using materials like
mushrooms or cactus plants. A company called Allégorie works with grocery stores and
farms to turn older fruit into beautiful and sustainable vegan leather products,
creating a line of handbags, backpacks and wallets, partially from grocery store overstock.
Figuring out just how to turn an abundance of fruit waste fibers
into tomorrow's accessories took quite some time,
and in the process, Allégorie tried a number of different types of fruits and vegetables,
like mushrooms and bananas, before settling on cactus, apple peels and mangoes. Even the
liners for their products are derived from crops like corn and sugarcane. Along the way,
the company makes sure that all of their products are sourced ethically and that the production
process is energy efficient. Fans of the line say that the products still smell faintly of fruit.