I've seen pigs swill collections in the past and frankly I wouldn't want to eat meat that had been fed on it.

 

Don't think it's all like that waste food you see in the newspaper articles, a lot is simply disgusting.

 

There is enough food produced to feed everybody but not everybody has the wherewithall to buy it.

I know many bin men take home food chucked out by supermarkets...it's all in sealed packs. Often they haven't even bothered to reduce it in store because they have over ordered! With soup kitchens and food banks..people desperate for food...which is disgusting in this day and age...it is obscene to dump food like this. Part of the problem is caused by health and safety gone bonkers....sell by dates on food that is obviously ok (fruit and veg) and would cause no health risk (how did we survive 'greengrocers' before supermarkets?), date marked tins which by their very nature cannot cause harm unless the tin is damaged (hoarding tins in wartime was risky...but only if you got caught out!), likewise airtight jars of food and of course foods which have a far greater shelf life than they are given (many meats and dairy products ....cheese and cured bacon for example!). People used to use common sense...as well as our other senses... your eyes to look at the product, touch ..to see if it was still firm, smell...did it smell right and finally taste! I bought some lovely cheese in France...it was a huge wheel of 'ripe' Gruyere...reduced because it was going mouldy on the edges...they cut the mould off and sold the perfectly matured central portion..it was beautiful! They used to do the same with cheddar over here...that was what the rind was for!

All of this and the dumping of milk surplus etc costs this country ....and us...dearly! We have people experiencing real poverty whilst this wastage happens...the supermarkets lock up their bins and put tight security on them....instead of putting this food to good use. Some shops do 'donate' to some of the charities that run soup kitchens and food banks but most big supermarkets have an awful record!

Very thought provoking article CD. Pig swill had to be boiled at a very high temp, for a certain length of time, further research has proven that even doing this does not kill certain bacteria, one that springs to mind is BSE. ( mad cow disease ).
As to people going through Supermarket waste, why not , especially fruit& veg . Meat& Dairy I would be a little more wary of especially where children are concerned. Many years ago we used to buy in trailer loads of horticultural waste to feed the livestock in winter, ( leeks, pots, cabbage, carrots , swede broccoli etc) all rejected by the super markets because of size, all perfectly good food , the lads used to take bucket loads home every night. My point being that yes , we are a wasteful society many are living on the poverty line , they should not have to be going through the bins , good cheap food should be available to all& not be governed by supermarket greed.

One thing needs sorting out, there was pig swill and then there was the disgusting pig swill which was a sloppy, rotting, reeking slurry of heck-knows-what.

 

The latter should never have been fed to the pigs. The waste leftovers from cooked meals should have been dumped and something done about people who waste so much food.

 

Unsold food is another matter and there's nothing wrong with feeding that to animals or people who choose to recover anything from stuff that's "thrown out".

 

The very first Ugli Fruit I ever tasted (yum-yum) was one my friend had recovered from the Market debris. If the travelling Market Traders had part opened boxes or cartons, they used to leave them behind instead of taking them back with them, a shocking waste and surely a sign that they were either getting their stock too cheap or making plenty of profit out of it?

 

As to misshapen vegetables, carrots and potatoes (particularly) which have been grown in stony ground are awkward to peel and more gets wasted so they should have been sorted and sold off cheaper.

 

The buying power of Supermarket chains puts severe pressure on the growers and one chap was told "Oh, we're doing a "two-for-one" promotion this week so you'll only get half your money". When he said he wouldn't sell to them, he'd sell elsewhere he was told "You won't, read your contract".

 

Another chap grew potatoes and was persuaded by a Supermarket chain to invest in a climate controlled warehouse "so you can benefit from the higher prices late season." Foolishly, he went ahead, that season was bad for many potato growers (but not him) and the supermarket wanted all his stock at usual prices and he eventually had an empty warehouse with no extra price benefit. He eventually went bust and all the expensive air conditioning/humidifiers/generators were all sold at auction for a fraction of their original cost.

The problem with dealing with waste is that it is often simply uneconomic to do anything but dump it, that's probably been the case since farming was invented.

 

Sixty years ago I saw vegetable crops simply ploughed into the ground because it would cost more to harvest them than the price they would fetch and quite recently efforts were made to find a home for several lorry loads of bananas that were due to be dumped but to no avail, the time element also plays it's part with perishable products.

 

With market traders the amount of effort involved to deal with part empty boxes and leftovers again could be more than the items are worth, one market stall I buy veg from, will start giving almost silly discounts during the last half hour just to clear as much as possible.

 

Supermarkets do have a vested interest in reducing waste, it does after all affect their profits though no doubt there is more they could do still, it is however the buying public who are also responsible to a degree when they demand prepared items with a very short shelf life.

 

I did hear of a company recently that specialised in producing products from mishapen fruit and veg.

 

 

It's the shelf life that is the problem though! Most sell by or use by dates are complete and utter codswallop!

I got a lot of veg and salad today in Asda ...after 6pm so only 10p each....great, I saved a few bob...BUT .....With the exception of the chicken and bacon salad, nothing was vaguely close to being inedible over the next few days...some will last a week or more! A couple of bananas were overripe but could have been taken off the bunch and the rest had several days left before they would be in that state...the avocados were actually perfect for eating whereas those on the shelf needed about a week to ripen....none of the potatoes were green....onions and carrots very firm....in the days before sell by dates most items would still be sold over the next couple of days and reduced until sold....the massive pile of fruit veg and salad offered tonight were unlikely to be all sold (they were still marking it down at 8pm) and much of it would be binned! The other problem the supermarkets cause by this over ordering and wastage is that it encourages people to buy more than they want when it's greatly reduced and they end up binning it instead! I always take the opportunity to try fruit and veg I have never had before rather than pay pounds for it...at 10p it doesn't matter...but unless I buy extras for friends and family, I do try to only buy what I am realistically going to use! I just think it is such a waste dumping food when there are soup kitchens and needy people living close by!

As for pig swill and chicken food...some of it is absolutely disgusting! It is ironic that this muck can be fed to animals that are going to end up as our food (yuk).......and they in turn will become our left overs.... that will end up being fed to their next generation....and they worry more about the shape of fruit and veg and silly sell by dates!

Very good points & good on you! I think a lot of what you say is true. Many have lost the ability to shop for bargains & even cook the cheaper cuts of meat, mainly I think because they don't or won't take the time, even over ripe fruit can be made into sauces ,pies etc& frozen for future use. I'm afraid the consumer as well as the supplier is as much to blame for the wastage today.

I'm afraid the consumer as well as the supplier is as much to blame for the wastage today.

 

Would one of those be the woman who said she bought food that she didn't really need because she didn't like to see her fridge partly empty?

 

My small fridge is mostly filled with veg bought from the market when really fresh and that veg stays good for some time if treated properly, I take from it just what I need each day.

Yep! An old saying crude but true." Eyes bigger than your belly"