Timothy Jones, a University of Arizona archaeologist, says that makes the results of his studies of how much food is lost and thrown away very timely. For the last eight years, Jones has spearheaded a government-financed study that has documented how more than 40 percent of food grown in the United States is lost or thrown away - at a cost of at least $100 billion annually to the economy and over-taxing the soil and environment.Seinfeld did a little exploring of this topic once:
He said Americans - from the farm to the kitchen - aren't aware of the huge amounts of food losses, and cooks often don't think about the food they waste. Jones said even the experts were wrong - by a factor of two, in fact - in guessing how much food is lost through the food chain, and he said at least half of the food discarded isn't really bad and could have been safely consumed.
[Monk's Diner]
JERRY: So lemme get this straight: you find yourself in the kitchen. You see an éclair, in the receptacle. And you think to yourself, "What the hell, I'll just eat some trash."
GEORGE: No, no. No, no, no. It was not trash!
JERRY: Was it in the trash?
GEORGE: Yes.
JERRY: Then it was trash.
GEORGE: It wasn't down in, it was sort of on top.
JERRY: But it was in the cylinder!
GEORGE: Above the rim.
JERRY: Adjacent to refuse, is refuse.
GEORGE: It was on a magazine! And it still had the doily on.
JERRY: Was it eaten?
GEORGE: One little bite.
JERRY: Well, that's garbage.
GEORGE: But I know who took the bite. It was her aunt!
JERRY: Well, you, my friend, have crossed the line that divides Man and Bum. You are now a Bum.
Somehow, I'm not ready to do my part for the economy and do a little dumpster diving. If for no other reason, besides avoiding becoming a bum, the government says I'm too fat as it is. Tell those skinny model types they're the ones hurting the economy, dammit.
