Food Waste Crisis in the United States of America: The Known, the Overlooked and the Undisclosed

With a loss of 1,250 calories per day per person or 140 kg/p/yr, the United States (U.S.) has a large problem with food waste. The later a product is wasted in the supply chain, the greater its environmental cost. Many food waste mitigation efforts focus on the retail and consumer stages, but there is also considerable food waste in the production phase, which includes growing, harvesting, transportation, storage and processing. The study is conducted in two steps: a bibliometric analysis of 218 articles on food waste in the U.S., followed by an investigation of options to meet food waste recovery targets. The study has identified three options to reduce food waste that are partially based on the bibliometric analysis. The options, Secondary Retail Food Stores, Enhanced Tax Credits, and a Task Force, were evaluated based on cost-effectiveness, diversion from landfills, and waste reduction using the Criteria Analysis Matrix method. The study found that establishing a multi-modal, multi-directional non-governmental Task Force to create awareness and spread knowledge among stakeholders, mainly consumers was the preferred policy alternative to tackle food waste issues in the U.S.