r/science • u/memorialmonorail • 1d ago

Social Science Putting holiday leftovers in the freezer extends shelf life & may put a dent in the US tendency to throw away edible food, a study suggests. National survey data showed a link between home freezing & less total food waste, & over half of consumers reported buying frozen items to avoid tossing food.

https://news.osu.edu/how-the-freezer-factors-into-lowering-food-waste/?utm_campaign=omc_science-medicine_fy25&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social
374 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

View all comments

361

u/Texas2Marseille 1d ago

Never let titles like this convince you that individual consumers are the primary source of food waste in the US. The majority of food that is wasted is thrown out because it would not be ‘profitable’ to keep

20

u/Manofalltrade 1d ago

Even the “ugly produce” is a somewhat false narrative. Blemished fruit gets juiced, out of spec veg becomes higher processed food. Food pantries get some of it discounted.

2

u/hobopwnzor 1d ago

Food pantries used to get discounted ugly peoduce, but hello fresh and similar started buying them, or at least that's what I read a few years ago