Food Wasted - Research Paper Example

These figures are extremely significant when one would consider the fact that millions of people all over the world, including some Americans are currently facing starvation or poverty. As per the 2009 statistics from America, 14.3 percent of all persons lived in poverty (Poverty in the United States). “How can 50 million people face hunger in a country that wastes billions of pounds of food?”(Feeding America). This paper analyses the reasons and consequences of poverty and food wastage in America.

According to Usborne, “28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries in the fiscal year 2008, the highest level since the food assistance program was introduced in the 1960s”. United States is supposed to be the wealthiest countries in the world. Yet, it is surprising to know that 28 million people in America are facing some kind of poverty. It is an accepted fact that American food production is more than what they required for the food needs.

In fact America is exporting surplus food items to overseas countries. Yet, a substantial portion of the Americans are facing starvations. This happens mainly because of the problems in the management of food chain in America. “There is enough food to feed every man, woman and child in America. Hunger in America is not about supply, it is about redirecting the excess food that is lost each year to those who need it most” (Feeding America). Tons in millions of food items are wasting in American warehouses because of the problems in the supply chain.

In fact the major reason for starvation is not lack of production, but inadequate supply of food. According to Bloom, 49 million food- insecure Americans were there in 2012. This happens mainly because of the food damage that taking place in between farm and fork. Dana Gunders (p.1) pointed out that 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, 50 percent of U.S land and 80 percent of all freshwater resources were utilized while food production take place in America. In her opinion, 40% of the total food production in America is getting wasted nowadays.

Another argument put forward by Dana is that uneaten foods and the foods thrown away as waste are contributing heavily to the environmental problems in the form of solid waste accumulation. Solid wastes have the ability to generate toxic gases such as methane. In her opinion, reduction of food losses by 15 percent would be enough to feed more than 25 million starving Americans every year. It should be noted that the governments all over the world are spending too much to avoid environmental damage.

The objective of these spending is to keep the environment fresh always to make life of animals, human and plants safer. It is a fact that plants are the only food producers in the world and no other thing in this world has the ability to produce food. Because of this awareness, governments are trying hard to fortify plant life in this world. However, dumping of wasted food in agricultural lands is causing huge problems to the plants in the form of solid waste. It should be noted that solid wastes have the ability to produce toxic gases such as methane which is harmful to plant life.

“When food is disposed in a landfill it rots and becomes a significant source of methane - a potent greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Landfills are a major source of human-related methane