The invitation-only event brought together policymakers, scientists, food industry leaders, nonprofit organizations, and cultural influencers to explore the intersection of food loss and waste, climate action, consumer behavior, and scalable innovations. Panelists focused on how food waste solutions offer a win-win for multiple crises facing the world today. 

Watch the full livestreamed event on Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

“You can’t really talk about climate change without talking about food waste,” says Luiz Beling, CEO of Apeel Sciences. 

Speakers agreed that tackling food waste is one of the most immediately effective climate solutions that countries, communities, and individuals can implement right now.

“You get food out of landfills today, and you’re saving methane emissions within the year,” says Dana Gunders, President of ReFED, who is seeing positivity around food waste solutions from both sides of the political aisle in the United States. 

“It has to be a whole of society approach…We have to press upon the leaders of the world to work together on climate,” says Jamil Ahmad, Director, New York Office, UN Environment Programme.

Multiple speakers pointed to portion sizes as a low-hanging fruit in terms of reducing food waste. Research supports this: According to Gunders, 59 percent of people surveyed say they would go to a different restaurant if it offered different portion sizes. 

“The most impactful thing we can do to decrease food waste is changing portion sizes…Giving consumers options like that can enable them to make changes,” says Roni Neff, Professor at Johns Hopkins University, who researches ways to reduce food waste and address climate change through food systems.

And technology plays a big role: Harry Chrispin, Senior Manager of ESG EMEA at Hilton, uses the artificial intelligence system Winnow to track food waste in hotel kitchens automatically. With Winnow, “the previously invisible food waste in the bin is now visible, and chefs can make decisions based on that,” says Chrispin. “Just changing the way we cut fruit and portion fruit, all of these small changes can make a really big difference in food waste,” without compromising the customer experience.

Many factors influence what eaters do and don’t eat, and how they dispose of their food choices:  “We make at least 200 different food decisions in a day. Many of them you don’t know you’re making,” says Caleb McClennan, President of RARE. This creates opportunities throughout each day to make positive change. But while small changes like composting and repurposing leftovers and scraps are important tools for change, consumers should also go easy on themselves, says U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree.

“You’re not going to be perfect every day of the week,” says Rep. Pingree. “But the things that you do at home…changing our habits and getting into new habits…all of these things are important to do.”

Eaters can also look to their freezers to help make small but meaningful changes to reduce food waste at home.

“Take advantage of your freezer,” says Alison Bodor, President and CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute. “Whether that’s freezing your own leftovers or buying resealable packages. Be part of the solution because it will take all of us.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Dexter, MD, says that consumers should not forget the power of their voices: “Consumer behavior needs to drive the changes,” she says. “If we are demanding it, it’s easier for people like me to pass the laws.”

“As someone who represents about 800,000 people, getting that outreach really drives our perspective. Reaching out to your elected leaders, sharing what you want—even if you know they’re not aligned—is really important,” says Rep. Dexter. “Americans need to demand better from their government. Politicians need to demand more from themselves.”

Stacy Blondin, Behavioral Science Associate at the World Resources Institute, emphasizes that while there is a significant consumer will to reduce waste, eaters need support from the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. “A large percentage of Americans are already motivated to reduce food waste, but we need these underlying societal support systems” that will enable people to make meaningful change, says Blondin. 

The Summit’s conversations continually turned to collaborations as an effective way to amplify change across sectors. 

“Co-developing together a solution is truly energizing and powerful. Your coworkers have the answers and power; they meet the customers every day,” says Lorena Lourido Gomez, Head of IKEA Food, IKEA Retail Services, Ingka.

“Nobody really wants to waste food. People are looking for advice on how to do that,” says David Rogers, Director of International Development at WRAP. “And if you can reach people through the cities they live in or the shops they go to, you can really reach everyone.”

Michael Grunwald, Food  &  Climate Columnist at Canary Media and also a Contributing Writer for The New York Times Opinion, left the audience with a simple call to action for eaters:

“Eat less beef, waste less food. I can give you 50 things to do, and the other 48 combined wouldn’t have as much impact as that,” says Grunwald. And “right now, food waste is an area where we can actually make progress.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.

The post Tackling Food Waste Is “One of the Most Immediate Solutions That We Can Be Doing Now” appeared first on Food Tank.

The invitation-only event will bring together policymakers, scientists, food industry leaders, nonprofit organizations, and cultural influencers to explore the intersection of food loss and waste, climate action, consumer behavior, and scalable innovations.

“Reducing food waste is a fast, cost-effective way to cut greenhouse gas emissions while boosting food security, saving households and businesses money, and easing pressure on land and water. The Food Waste Breakthrough shows that governments, cities, businesses, and financiers can align on climate action and deliver real gains for people and planet,” says Hongpeng Lei, Chief of the Mitigation Branch, Climate Change Division at UNEP.

“We can’t talk about climate change without talking about the role of food loss and waste as a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, but also how doable and achievable it is for us to reduce food loss and waste to drive meaningful, positive change! Our ability to healthfully and sustainably feed the world depends on our collective actions, and [this Climate Week] event is a great opportunity to dive into the diversity of solutions that are making a difference,” says Luiz Beling, CEO of Apeel.

“We should not live in a world where people go hungry and food goes to waste. In the US, between 30 and 40 percent of food we produce ends up in a landfill, while at the same time 47 million people—including 1 in 5 children—are experiencing food insecurity. This problem is solvable,” says Jordan Schenck, CEO of Flashfood. “Flashfood is on track to divert more than 27 million affordable meals to our shoppers this year alone.”

The morning will feature panel discussions around a wide range of food waste topics, ranging from “Nudging Smarter Consumption” to “Scaling Food Waste Solutions Through Cross-Sector Collaboration.”

For Dana Gunders, President of ReFED, the Summit’s timing is important: the Summit will remind attendees at the start of Climate Week that food waste is a key part of any climate discussion.

“Reducing food waste is like a Swiss Army knife in that it solves a lot of issues at once, from improving operational efficiency at businesses to being a top solution for addressing climate change. That’s why it is the perfect topic to discuss at the start of Climate Week—reminding the innovators and changemakers in the room that action on food waste is action on climate—and we can make a difference now,” says Gunders.

Alison Bodor, President and CEO of AFFI, emphasizes the importance of frozen foods in preventing food waste, especially for consumers.

“Freezing is such an easy solution to reduce food waste. It allows for a longer shelf life for produce, and pre-portioned meals help reduce leftovers that go to waste,” Bodor tells Food Tank. “In fact, consumers report that frozen foods help them reduce their waste and save money, and that having frozen meal ingredients on hand helps to have more food in the house without risk of spoilage.”

Held in the Greene Space at WNYC-NPR Studios, the event will begin with breakfast at 9am, followed by programming from 9:30am to 12pm, and lunch until 1pm.

Confirmed speakers and moderators include U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Dexter, MD; Jamil Ahmad, Director, New York Office, UN Environment Programme; Somini Sengupta, international climate reporter at The New York Times; Michael Grunwald, Food & Climate Columnist at Canary Media and contributing writer for The New York Times Opinion; Harry Chrispin, Senior Manager, Sustainability, Hilton; Dana Gunders, President, ReFED; Alison Bodor, President and CEO, American Frozen Food Institute; Stacy Blondin, Behavioral Research Associate, World Resources Institute; Jordan Schenck, CEO, Flashfood; Roni Neff, Professor, Johns Hopkins University; Jilly Stephens, Chief Executive Officer, City Harvest; Caleb McClennan, President, RARE; Elliott Wolf, VP and Chief Data Scientist, Lineage Logistics; David Rogers, International Director, WRAP; Luiz Beling, CEO, Apeel Sciences; Lorena Lourido Gomez, IKEA Food Manager and 12.3 Champion; Corby Kummer, Executive Director of the Food & Society Program at the Aspen Institute and senior editor at The Atlantic; and Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank.

The event will include a youth poetry spotlight by 10-year-old Prahlada Rastogi, winner of the 2025 Stop Food Waste Day Youth Poetry Competition, and a special performance from Antoine L. Smith, Broadway actor and singer (MJ the Musical, Carousel, Miss Saigon, The Color Purple, Cinderella), accompanied by Deah Love Harriott, Broadway music director and conductor (for colored girls… at the Booth Theatre).

This summit will be streamed live on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube Channel, here. Join the Food Tank newsletter list for reminders, and click here for Food Tank’s full lineup of events at Climate Week NYC 2025.

The post “A Food Waste Breakthrough” Summit Aligns Industry, Science, and Policy for Climate Action appeared first on Food Tank.

Confirmed speakers and moderators across the week include: Eric Adjepong (chef, TV host); Chitra Agrawal (Brooklyn Delhi); Jamil Ahmad (UNEP); Jamie Ager (Hickory Nut Gap); Alexia Akbay (Symbrosia); Tonya Allen (McKnight Foundation); Douglas Alexander (Lions Clubs International); Appolinaire Djikeng (ILRI); Christa Barfield (FarmerJawn); Luiz Beling (Apeel Sciences); Eitan Bernath (UN WFP); Mark Bittman (Community Kitchen); Stacy Blondin (WRI); Alison Bodor (AFFI); Patrick Brown (Nature for Justice); Will Brinkerhoff (University of Michigan); Jennifer Burney (Stanford); Nick Cain (Patrick J. McGovern Foundation); Sean Carlson (WNYC); Augusto Castro-Núñez (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT); Cecilia Chang (Mission Barns); Sweta Chakraborty (We Don’t Have Time); Emily Weedon Chapman (World Bank); Harry Chrispin (Hilton); Nikki Clifton (UPS Foundation); Melissa Clark (The New York Times); Clara Coleman (farmer); Julia Collins (Planet FWD); Dana Cowin (Progressive Hedonist); Emily Coppel (The Rockefeller Foundation); Abbie Corse (The Corse Farm Dairy); Matthew Dillon (Organic Trade Association); Maddy DeVita (chef, WFP USA); Vaughn Duitsman (Bartlett); Sheryll Durrant (Just Food); Nancy Easton (Wellness in the Schools); Oliver English (Common Table Creative); Simon English (Common Table Creative); Adriano Espaillat (U.S. Congress); Florence Fabricant (The New York Times); Sara Farley (The Rockefeller Foundation); Tim Fink (American Farmland Trust); Kathleen Finlay (Glynwood Center); Olivia Fuller (Fuller Acres); Evan Fraser (University of Guelph); David Gelles (The New York Times); Jeroen Gerlag (Climate Group); Daniel S. Goldman (U.S. Congress); Jay Goldmark (Stone House Farm); Kelly Goodejohn (Starbucks); Leslie Gordon (Food Bank For NYC); Robert Graham (FRESH Med); Don Grant (Cuna del Mar); Stephanie Grotta (Target); Miguel Guerra (Mita); Dana Gunders (ReFED); Riana Lynn (Journey Foods); Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin (Regenerative Agriculture Alliance); Sarela Herrada (SIMPLi); Kelly Hilovsky (ButcherBox); Ingrid Hoffmann (chef, host); Patrick Holden (Sustainable Food Trust); Robert Hokanson (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints); Isabelle Kamariza (Solid’Africa); Sam Kass (Acre Venture Partners); Mark Kaplan (Wholechain; Better Food Future); Sarah Kapnick (J.P. Morgan); Amy Keister (Compass Group); Geoffrey Kie (Kie’s Pies); Kat Kinsman (Food & Wine); Jon Kung (chef, author); Priya Krishna (The New York Times); Rachel Krupa (The Goods Mart); Corby Kummer (Aspen Institute; The Atlantic); Tamika Lawrence (Broadway artist); Kenneth Lee (Lotus Foods); Caitlin Leibert (Whole Foods Market); Paul Lightfoot (Patagonia Provisions); Brandon Lombardi (Sprouts Farmers Market); Lorena Lourido Gomez (IKEA); Brita Lundberg (Lundberg Family Farms); Bryce Lundberg (Lundberg Family Farms); Geeta Maker-Clark (NorthShore University HealthSystem); Camilla Marcus (west~bourne); Gerardo Martinez (Wild Kid Acres); Brian Mattingly (Star Hill Farm, Maker’s Mark); Sea Matias (farmer, organizer); Jenny Lester Moffitt (American Farmland Trust); Anne McBride (James Beard Foundation); Jennifer McClellan (U.S. Congress); Caleb McClennan (RARE); Jay McEntire (Arva); Joshua McFadden (chef, restaurateur); David Moscow (From Scratch); Bianca Moebius-Clune (American Farmland Trust); Roni Neff (Johns Hopkins University); Marion Nestle (NYU, emerita); Justina Nixon-Saintil (IBM); Clare Reichenbach (James Beard Foundation); Ricardo Levins Morales (artist); Bob Quinn (farmer, Kamut); Caroline Radice (Black Dog Farm); Chloe Sorvino (Forbes); Kim Severson (The New York Times); Sean Sherman (The Sioux Chef; NATIFS); Sabrina Servais (Organic Valley); Jilly Stephens (City Harvest); Kimberley Sundy (Kellanova); Ron Mardesen (Niman Ranch); Máximo Torero Cullen (FAO); Eve Turow-Paul (Food for Climate League); Stacey Vanek Smith (Bloomberg); Marcela Valladolid (Matriarca Foods); Grace Young (cookbook author); Karen Washington (Black Urban Growers); April Wilson (Seven W Farm); Andrew Zimmern (chef, TV host); Prahlada Rastogi (Youth Poetry Winner, Stop Food Waste Day); and Sloan Spiegel (youth poet).

Performers across the week include: Afra Hines (Hadestown; Hamilton tour; former Rockette); Amber Rubarth (Cover Crop); Antoine L. Smith (MJ the Musical; The Color Purple); Brandon Burks (Gypsy; Penthouse IV); Cajai Kennedy (Wicked; Frozen; The Lion King tour); Celia Hottenstein (Wicked; Phantom tour); Chelle Denton (Jagged Little Pill tour; Smash); Clair Rachel Howell (Wicked); Daniel J. Maldonado (& Juliet); Douglas Ewart (composer, multi-instrumentalist); Eliza Ohman (Hamilton; SIX); Emily Kristen Morris (Wicked tour; Something Rotten tour); Janayé McAlpine (MJ: The Musical; Moulin Rouge!); Jennafer Newberry (Wicked); Jennifer Noble (King Kong; Kinky Boots); Joey Contreras (In Pieces); Jordan Tyson (Gypsy; The Notebook); Jidenna (Grammy-nominated, Classic Man); Nana Kwabena (Grammy-winning producer); Penthouse IV (The Prom; Aladdin; The Great Gatsby); Racquel Williams (The Book of Mormon); Ryan Fielding Garrett (Kinky Boots; Wicked); Noah Turner (Jersey Boys); Adam Cole Klepper (Gypsy; Spamalot); Maria Caputo (Off-Broadway, 54 Below); Micah Elijah Caldwell (A Strange Loop); Rebekah Bruce (Mean Girls; Dead Outlaw); Cullen Curth (The Karate Kid Musical); Nick Potocki (Dead Outlaw); Hannah Verdi (In Pieces); and the Catalyst Coffee cast — Stacey Sargeant, Kalyne Coleman, Keshav Moodliar, Erin Neufer, Alex Morf, and Brooks Brantly.

“The urgency of the climate crisis demands that we not only talk about solutions but also bring together the people who can make them happen. At our Summits, we’re creating a space where food system leaders—from farmers to policymakers to chefs—can collaborate, share insights, and create tangible solutions,” says Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank. “This is how we move from talk to action, and how we make food part of the solution to the climate crisis.”

Co-hosts and partners across the 15 Summits include: Acme Smoked Fish; Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT; American Farmland Trust; Applegate; Arva; Atarraya; Better Food Future; Broadway Green Alliance; ButcherBox; Certified Origins; J.P. Morgan; Journey Foods; Kerry Dairy Ireland; King Arthur Baking; Lundberg Family Farms; McKnight Foundation; Meat Institute; Nature’s Fynd; Niman Ranch; Organic Valley; Regal Springs; Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation; The James Beard Foundation; The Rockefeller Foundation; TikTok; UN Environment Programme; Unilever; Wholechain; and World Food Program USA, with deep thanks to Great Performances for powering culinary experiences and Arva for receptions all week.

These co-hosts and partners emphasize the importance of bringing together food systems leaders at global climate events such as Climate Week NYC.

“We know that our global food system sits at the heart of both the climate crisis and the solution. That’s why summits like this one are so important during Climate Week,” Dorothy Shaver, Global Food Sustainability Lead at Unilever, says about Food Tank’s “A Roadmap to a Delicious, Nutritious, and Regenerative Food Future for All” Summit. “They bring together changemakers from every corner of the food world to inspire new ideas, spark collaboration, and accelerate progress. My hope is that attendees walk away with a renewed sense of urgency—and optimism—for how we can nourish both people and planet.”

The week’s Summits focus on regenerative food systems from various angles, from school meals to financial sustainability for farmers to transparency.

“Regenerative agriculture is the climate solution that should be the highest priority for both policymakers and the private sector. As we explore agriculture’s role in building resilient supply chains and achieving net-zero commitments, we see that the impact from investing in regenerative agriculture improves farmer livelihoods, builds resilient supply chains, and improves soil health,” says Jay McEntire, CEO of Arva.

People depend on agriculture not only for sustenance but also to produce fiber, feed, fuel, and biofeedstock derivatives for critical manufacturing, says McEntire: “Investing here produces benefits for society at a very competitive price relative to engineered solutions for carbon capture. Programs like ‘Regenerative Food Systems: Scaling Impact from Soil to Shelf’ are crucial for convening leaders in food, farming, and finance to discuss these powerful—and underutilized—climate solutions.”

“Awareness of regeneration has grown from 4% to 7% in just 18 months—a clear sign of momentum, yet reaching the Tipping Point requires collective action. Partnerships are essential to scaling regenerative solutions that restore healthy soil and nurture both human and planetary health,” says Evan Harrison, CEO of Kiss the Ground. “We’re excited to join Food Tank and Arva at Climate Week NYC to share insights and amplify impact from soil to shelf.”

“Regenerative school meals are more than a menu tweak: it is a market unlock for farming that restores soil health, water, and biodiversity, while nourishing children and sustaining farmers,” says Sara Farley, Vice President of The Rockefeller Foundation’s global food team. “Rooted in Indigenous know-how, regeneratively produced food can turn the world’s biggest safety net—school meals—into a lever for climate resilience, feeding pupils today, and safeguarding the planet for tomorrow.”

“The only way we are going to realize agriculture’s promise to help combat climate change is if we have enough farmers who can make a living while following regenerative practices,” says John Piotti, CEO of American Farmland Trust. “We need to help existing farmers who are doing the right things stay in business and make it financially possible for forward-looking new farmers to get into the business.”

“Food systems are only as strong as the trust and transparency behind them. That’s why traceability and data standards matter—they’re the foundation that allows food to move fairly, safely, and sustainably across the globe,” says Mark Kaplan, Co-Founder and Chief Sustainability Officer at Wholechain. “At Digital Futures: A Better Food Celebration, we’ll show how these global standards come alive—from seafood to beef to leather—and why they’re essential for the future of food.”

“The Sustainable Foods Showcase is a catalyst for connection across the food and agriculture ecosystem. We’re bringing together visionary founders, investors, and industry leaders from all corners of the industry to feel, taste, and see these next-generation products up close,” says Eric Cohen, Head of Green Economy Banking at J.P. Morgan. “Events like these highlight the power of collaboration in building a more sustainable food system while creating new market opportunities.”

Food Tank’s Summits will also cover the intersection of food, health, hunger, and climate—and how cross-sector participation is crucial.

“[The Food is Medicine and Eating for Health] summit is about connecting the dots between food, health, and wellness,” says Lyndsey Waugh, Executive Director of the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation. “It brings together diverse perspectives to deepen that conversation and inspire new ideas. We hope attendees leave with a stronger sense of how food can truly serve as medicine and how each of us can play a role in building healthier communities.”

“With over 300 million people facing severe hunger, it’s critical that the humanitarian sector invest in food security solutions that mitigate climate risks and save lives,” says Barron Segar, President and CEO of World Food Program USA. “From low-tech solutions like home-grown school meals to advanced predictive technologies and logistics, we’re working with communities and private-sector partners to build resilience and lasting change.”

“Chefs are on the frontlines of climate every day, sourcing from farmers, shaping what diners eat, and influencing how communities understand food. Their voices carry far beyond the plate,” says Anne E. McBride, PhD, Vice President of Impact at the James Beard Foundation. “That’s why bringing chefs into the climate conversation isn’t optional. It’s essential if we want real solutions that resonate with both policymakers and the public.”

Finally, Food Tank’s Climate Week NYC Summits are about joy, celebration, and hope. Musical and theatre performances and tastings will be hosted alongside live discussions to emphasize the importance of celebrating progress and fueling optimism in the face of climate challenges.

“At Journey Foods, we believe solving today’s food and climate challenges requires more than technology. It requires joy, collaboration, and the cross-pollination of ideas. Digital Futures is designed as a night of dance and discovery where leaders, innovators, artists, and creatives come together to celebrate progress and accelerate solutions in today’s digital landscape. My hope is that attendees leave feeling energized, connected, and inspired to act faster and more creatively for a more delicious food future,” says Riana Lynn, Founder and CEO of Journey Foods.

“Climate Week can feel like a tidal wave—from packed schedules to the sheer scale of the climate crisis. But there’s a powerful reason to keep going: hope,” says Brita Lundberg, Fourth-Generation Farmer and Chief Storyteller at Lundberg Family Farms. “At Hope on a Plate, we’re putting hope center stage with personal stories from farmers, inspiring musical performances, chef-led tastings, and real conversations with changemakers driving the regenerative organic movement.”

“As we kick off Climate Week, we know we are at a tipping point. The climate crisis is no longer abstract—it’s here. Yet so is an opportunity: to lead with culture, with care, and with collective vision,” says Tonya Allen, President and CEO of the McKnight Foundation. “This is where performing artists and cultural bearers play a vital role. They give us language to express our grief, fear, and curiosity. They remind us that joy and justice go together. They invite us into spaces of imagining that a different world and a different way is possible, and that in some places, it’s already taking shape.”

“The climate crisis can feel overwhelming, but ‘The Performing Arts Lights the Way’ shows the power of creativity and collaboration to spark change,” says Molly Braverman, Director of the Broadway Green Alliance. “We are thrilled to join forces with Food Tank and the McKnight Foundation to harness the joy of the arts, uplift solutions, and leave attendees inspired, connected, and ready to carry the momentum of Climate Week forward.”

The week concludes with “A Night Honoring Our Farmers: Food and Agriculture Storytelling,” a special presentation by 10 extraordinary farmers sharing experiences of land, legacy, hope, and resilience through theater-inspired storytelling and unscripted narratives.

“As a theater-maker, I’m sold on the power of storytelling, but to be hearing from voices we never hear from—farmers doing vital work to ensure we’ll be able to feed our grandchildren—well, that’s going to make for storytelling flavored with a special sauce of compelling importance and captivating entertainment,” says Anika Larsen, Tony Award Nominee and Broadway Green Alliance Board Member. “And at the Broadway Green Alliance, we know that when stories like these are lifted up, they don’t just entertain—they inspire action for a more sustainable future.”

Ron Mardesen, a third-generation hog farmer from Elliott, Iowa, who has raised pigs for specialty meat company Niman Ranch for over 20 years, emphasizes the weight of each farmer’s story—and why it’s important to listen.

“When a farmer shares a story, their story is wrapped in life. The listener feels the struggles of the farmer. The listener hears the emotion in the farmer’s voice. And ultimately, the listener sees the vision that has moved the farmer to where they are right now,” says Mardesen. “When a farmer shares a story, their story, they are exposing a part of themselves that most of us are uncomfortable to do. It’s hard to bear it all. We’ve all had successes, and we’ve all had failures. But the bottom line is we’ve all learned from our experiences.”

The post Join Food Tank at Climate Week NYC 2025: 300+ Leaders, Farmers, and Chefs Unite to Tackle the Climate Crisis Through Food appeared first on Food Tank.

Food Recovery Network (FRN) is the largest student-led movement recovering surplus food and ending hunger. We unite 8,000+ college students, food suppliers, farmers, and local businesses across the U.S. in the fight against climate change and hunger by recovering surplus food from across the supply chain and donating it to local nonprofit organizations that feed people experiencing hunger. Over the past decade, as I have led FRN, I have witnessed the incredible power of young people’s voices. Their message is clear: 

We can no longer throw away good food when there are plenty of ways to distribute it to people who need it. We are all on a global island, and we are collectively responsible for caring for this place we call home.

With over 200 chapters across the U.S., including George Washington University (est. 2013), FRN harnesses the existing capacities of college and university students who have the ability to recover and move food to where it is needed in their local communities—feeding more people faster. FRN equips our student leaders with the support, tools, mentorship, and training they need to establish food recovery operations in their local communities and keep those recoveries ongoing year after year.

There is room for all of us to join the revolution to restore the value of our food, especially our surplus food, and effectively end the cycle of food waste. Our efforts, together, will make our tomorrow brighter, more connected, and thriving. 

After 10 years of activism and listening, there are five lessons to keep moving forward I would like to offer:

1. Small changes make radical and fundamental impacts.

2. Community engagement is essential.

3. Advocacy is a consistent action we must take to achieve freedom.

4. It’s important to celebrate our successes.

5. And even though the work is hard, there is hope ahead.

Small Changes Make Radical And Fundamental Impacts

It can be overwhelming to consider the enormity of food waste statistics. What do 63 million tons of food waste look like? What does it mean that 27 percent of all the food that’s produced annually in the U.S. goes into landfills? How do you visualize the 47 million people who are hungry? When the problems of our society get overwhelming, focusing on one small concept at a time helps keep us anchored and moving forward.

Food Recovery Network was started to help feed people experiencing hunger in College Park, Maryland. And then Berkeley, California, and Providence, Rhode Island, one food recovery at a time.

The simple act of asking at your next event or meeting, “What is your plan for the leftover food?” can lead to action. That’s how FRN started. Student leaders saw good food being thrown away and people who needed food in their local community. They started asking simple questions and took action. Instead of throwing that really good food away, they started bringing it to a local church close to campus. 

And consider that FRN, in a partnership with Medium Rare and Bullseye Entertainment Group during this year’s Super Bowl tailgates, recovered 12,348 pounds of high-quality food. It was just two events and fifteen volunteers and staff. However, those pounds provided over 10,000 meals to the New Orleans community and prevented 7.95 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere—the equivalent of the amount needed to power a home for an entire year. 

A few years ago, those events didn’t have anyone recovering the food. Imagine the impact if every event had a food recovery plan in place. It’s exponential potential.

Community Engagement Is Essential 

Genuine community involvement drives change in ways community members desire—sustainable and substantial. But it’s hard work and takes time. People come with different ideas, agendas, and egos. Our job is to bring together various visions and experiences and ensure we are rowing in the same direction.

FRN’s Elementary School Produce Market initiative began with a straightforward pilot program: paying farmers for their surplus food to conveniently provide elementary school families with nutritious produce—right at student pickup. We focused on local partnership and actively listening to communities’ needs and adjusted along the way based on community feedback. We increased opportunities for our students and alumni to participate.

After three years, that first produce market in Atlanta is now fully executed by local community partners and flourishing. Markets have expanded into other cities like St. Paul, Minnesota, and Baltimore, Maryland. We are using the same model, with a heavy emphasis on community feedback loops, and seeing the same success.

Freedom through Advocacy

Over the years, I have learned that building relationships with legislators is an effective push for necessary change. Advocacy validates our work and expedites sustainable solutions that benefit entire communities. Our policies reflect our decorum on how we want to treat one another.

Through advocacy efforts, we improved the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Law. With the passage of the bipartisan Food Donation Improvement Act (FDIA), to include farmers who were previously excluded, allowing them to receive tax incentives for donating food. We can now donate to individuals and not just nonprofit organizations, which has facilitated the growth of community refrigerators, making food access easier for many communities. The FDIA has spurred food policy councils to emerge across the U.S. to address food waste systematically at the municipal level. The list of what still must be achieved through policy change is long. But it must be celebrated: advocacy led to advancement and change!

Celebrate Successes, No Matter How Small. H*ck, Just Celebrate 

Celebrating recognizes the hard work that goes into every aspect of our food system—the water invested, the labor growing and gathering food on the land of ancestors, the care of preparation, and the joy of celebrating the harvest. Taking time to celebrate achievements, both big and small, maintains morale, motivates continued action, and fosters abundance thinking. And, it’s fun! 

I’ve been on recovery missions with music playing in the foreground, enjoying a flurry of high-fives. It’s jaw-dropping to see crate after crate of avocados that were once destined for the trash get moved to feed people. I love hearing from the staff of these locations about the delicious recipes the chefs will create for the clients at the church or workforce program for the unhoused. It’s all a celebration and a tribute to our nourishing food and our connection to one another.

It’s Hard Work. Still, There Is Hope Ahead

The fight against food waste is about fostering a culture of compassion, respect, and responsibility towards one another, our food systems, and our planet. I’ve had the experience of continuous hard times and never lost hope. Collective care involves intentionally looking to helpers and spending time in places that fuel you to keep going. We cannot shy away from that or sugarcoat that for anybody.

The work is hard. 

If our society and elected officials wanted to eradicate hunger, it would have been done well before any of us were born. Structures, like nonprofits, are often underfunded to permanently address the issues at hand, and are asked to be more creative with their US$0.15 when they need a dollar instead of creating policy structures that ensure we all thrive. The availability of food affects the level of work. We must think of food recovery as a connected system that requires different attention based on what’s happening.

According to the EPA, better food procurement is the number one way to prevent food waste, and food recovery is number two. FRN’s goal is simple: to recover enough surplus food to feed everyone who is hungry.

But we have to work together, collectively, to chart the path forward. Here are 3 steps I recommend:

1. Stay in touch with your legislators to advocate for better policy.

The Food Date Labeling Act has recently been reintroduced with bipartisan support. Its goal is to eliminate consumer confusion regarding expiration dates and “best by” labels that leads to hundreds of thousands of pounds of food being unnecessarily discarded every year by standardizing date labels on specific products. This initiative also aims to significantly reduce food waste across the country and help consumers make the most of their dollars. Call your legislators and ask them to support this bill. Save their contact information to make calling them again even easier. 

2. Join local coalitions to ensure food recovery is included in local climate action plans.

Conduct an internet search to see if your county or town in which you live has a food recovery strategy as part of its strategic plan or part of its climate action initiatives. If your area lacks a plan, contact your local municipal leaders to inquire about the timeline for incorporating a food recovery plan into their strategy. If the person does not know, or they will not make changes to the strategy until the sunset of the current strategic plan, ask them to make a note that you would like a food recovery to be considered, and follow up.

3. And make a personal commitment. Ask at each event you attend what the plan is for leftover food. 

For small private gatherings and parties, consider providing to-go containers for guests and event staff. Enlist the help of FRN. FRN’s Food Recovery Verified program assists large-scale events and businesses in planning to donate high-quality food after events or as a part of their regular operations.

Get involved with the movement to end food waste. Follow our work at FRN for inspiration. By continuing to engage our communities, celebrating our successes, and maintaining our tenacity, we can make a lasting impact, making food recovery the norm. Each action we take, together, brings us closer to that goal.

Photo courtesy of Food Recovery Network

The post Act Now: Join Young People in the Fight to End Food Waste appeared first on Food Tank.

As a food and agriculture movement, we need to show the world that our food and agriculture systems are both a key solution to the climate crisis and that we need urgent, immediate action.

We’ve already announced 16 Summits and more than 240 speakers, performers, and moderators, with so much unexpected programming—including the immersive full-length play reading of Catalyst Coffee about food worker union organizing, written by our co-founder Bernie Pollack; a night of musical, dance and spoken word performance with the McKnight Foundation; a “digital futures” food system influencer night in collaboration with TikTok, Journey Foods, and Better Food Future; immersive talks and tastings with folks like Dan Barber, JJ Johnson, Sean Sherman, and Marcela Valladolid; a closing Summit featuring farmer storytelling in the spirit of The Moth; and so, so much more!

The full schedule is pasted below and accessible HERE. 

For those not in New York City for Climate Week, you’re still more than welcome to join us—nearly every event will be livestreamed. Just visit the individual events you’re interested in and register for a virtual ticket.

For those in New York or attending Climate Week, you can apply to attend the Summit of your choice (please avoid programs already marked as sold out) by emailing Bernard at bernard@foodtank.com. Due to overwhelming demand, in-person attendance is limited to one Summit per person.

Sunday, Sept 21st

Evening Arts Session: “Hope on a Plate: An Interactive Celebration of Regenerative Agriculture and Shared Possibility.” 6:30PM Doors. 7:00PM-9:00PM. Program. 9:00PM Reception.

A multisensory event featuring a chef-driven meal, immersive storytelling, and live performances, all highlighting regenerative farming as a scalable climate solution. Confirmed speakers include Dan Barber, Chef and Co-owner, Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns; Founder, Row 7 Seed Company; J.J. Johnson, American chef and author best known for celebrating the food of the African diaspora; Jason Buechel, Chief Executive Officer at Whole Foods Market and Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores; Chef Marcela Valladolid, beloved Food Network personality known for Mexican Made Easy and The Kitchen; Jeroen Gerlag, Director of Europe and Food System Lead, Climate Week; Oliver English, Co-Founder & CEO, filmmaker, chef, and food advocate; Simon English, Co-Founder & Creative Director, film director and cinematographer; Paul Lightfoot, General Manager, Patagonia Provisions; Suzanne Sengelmann, Chief Growth Officer, Lundberg Family Farms; Bryce Lundberg, Vice President of Agriculture, Lundberg Family Farms; Brita Lundberg, Fourth-Generation Farmer and Chief Storyteller, Lundberg Family Farms; Camilla Marcus, chef and restaurateur known for her sustainability-focused cooking; and many more! A special musical performance will feature Brian Russell Carey, currently appearing in the acclaimed revival of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and previously in Red Roses, Green Gold, the Grateful Dead musical. He’ll be joined by Cabaret’s Musical Director, Jacob Yates, a Lexington-born musician who conducts and performs in the show’s live onstage ensemble. Register for this event HERE.

Monday, Sept 22nd

Morning Session: “Climate Action: A Food Waste Breakthrough.” In partnership with the UN Environment Program, Apeel Sciences, the American Frozen Food Institute, Flashfood, and ReFED.

Confirmed speakers and moderators include Massimo Bottura, world-renowned chef, UNEP Goodwill Ambassador, and UN SDG Advocate, whose groundbreaking work is redefining how we value surplus food; Somini Sengupta, international climate reporter at The New York Times; Michael Grunwald, food and climate columnist at Canary Media and contributing writer for The New York Times Opinion; Ligia Noronha, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office at UNEP; Dana Gunders, President of ReFED; Jean Garris Hand, Vice President, Global Head of Sustainability, Hilton; Alison Bodor, President and CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute; Stacy Blondin, Behavioral Research Associate, World Resources Institute; Jordan Schenck, CEO of Flashfood; Roni Neff, Professor at Johns Hopkins University; Maria Siqueira, Co-Founder and Director of Public Policies and Projects at Pacto Contra a Fome in Brazil; Jilly Stephens, Chief Executive Officer, City Harvest; Caleb McClennan, President, RARE; Elliott Wolf, VP and Chief Data Scientist, Lineage Logistics;  Luiz Beling, CEO, Apeel Sciences; and Prahlada Rastogi, age 10, winner of the 2025 Stop Food Waste Day Youth Poetry Competition—with many more to be announced soon! Special performance from Antoine L. Smith, Broadway actor and singer whose credits include MJ the Musical, Carousel, Miss Saigon, The Color Purple, and Cinderella. He has performed at the Tony Awards and received a Grammy nomination for The Color Purple cast album. He will be accompanied by Deah Love Harriott, a Broadway music director and conductor best known for leading the 2022 revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf at the Booth Theatre. Register for this event HERE.

Afternoon Session: “A Roadmap to a Delicious, Nutritious, and Regenerative Food Future for All.” In partnership with Unilever.

Confirmed speakers include Rasmus Munk, Chef & Founder of Alchemist, the acclaimed two-Michelin-star restaurant in Copenhagen known for its immersive, 50-course “holistic cuisine” experience; Mark Bittman, New York Times bestselling author, former New York Times food writer, chef, and Founder of Community Kitchen; Kim Severson, Food Correspondent, The New York Times; Drew Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Brand Purpose, US Lead, Edelman Gen Z Lab; Dorothy Shaver, Global Food Sustainability Lead, Unilever; Rachel Krupa, Founder, The Goods Mart; Chitra Agrawal, Founder, Brooklyn Delhi and author of Vibrant India; Eve Turow-Paul, author, and Founder and Executive Director of Food for Climate League; Herrish Patel, President of Unilever USA and CEO of its Personal Care business in North America; Christa Barfield, Owner & Founder of FarmerJawn, a regenerative organic farm based in Philadelphia—and many more to be announced soon! Special musical performance from Daniel J. Maldonado, a New York–based Broadway performer currently appearing in the Tony-nominated musical & Juliet, where he understudies the role of Romeo. He will be accompanied by Noah Turner, a New York–based music director and Broadway accompanist known for his work on Jersey Boys, The Sound of Music, and Joy the Musical. Register for this event HERE.

Evening Arts Session: “The Performing Arts Lights the Way: A Climate Week Celebration.” In partnership with the McKnight Foundation.

Confirmed speakers, moderators, and performers include: Sean Sherman, Chef and Founder, The Sioux Chef and NATIFS; Kim Severson, Food Correspondent, The New York Times; Amber Rubarth, an acclaimed singer-songwriter and former chainsaw sculptor whose latest album Cover Crop reimagines classic songs as a meditation on our interconnection with nature; Tamika Lawrence, two-time Grammy winner (Dear Evan Hansen, The Greatest Showman) and Broadway veteran (If/Then, Beautiful, Matilda, Come From Away, Caroline, or Change, The Heart of Rock and Roll); Tonya Allen, President, McKnight Foundation; Alysia Reiner, Award-winning Actress, Producer, Activist, and Environmental Advocate (star of Orange Is the New Black, Ms. Marvel, Better Things); Lakisha May, Broadway and TV actress (Skeleton Crew, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Law & Order: SVU), food justice advocate, Board Member at SÜPRMARKT, and Co-Vice Chair of the James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards; Ricardo Levins Morales, Visual Artist and McKnight Distinguished Artist known for blending activism and art to uplift movements for justice and healing; Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, regenerative farmer, agronomist, and founder of the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance and Tree-Range Farms, pioneering poultry-centered agroforestry systems; Seitu Ken Jones, multidisciplinary artist and McKnight Distinguished Artist whose work explores food, justice, and community through public art and storytelling; Eliza Ohman, New York–based performer and choreographer (Hamilton, King Kong, SIX: The Musical, Fosse/Verdon, Up Here, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel); Douglas Ewart, Jamaican-born multi-instrumentalist, composer, and instrument builder whose performances span saxophones, clarinets, flutes, didgeridoo, and Rastafarian hand drums; and Jennifer Noble, New York–based Broadway actor, singer, and dancer (Ghost: The Musical, King Kong, Kinky Boots, The Heart of Rock and Roll) accompanied by Ryan Fielding Garrett, a Broadway music director, composer, and orchestrator whose credits include Kinky Boots, Wicked, Back to the Future, The Notebook, Mean Girls, Hamilton, Mary Poppins, Finding Neverland, New York New York, and Sweeney Todd with the NY Philharmonic. Register for this event HERE.

Tuesday, Sept 23rd

Morning Session: “Keeping Farmers on the Land.” In partnership with American Farmland Trust.

Confirmed speakers include Chellie Pingree, U.S. Representative for Maine’s 1st Congressional District; Alice Waters, Chef, Author, and Food Activist; Founder and Owner, Chez Panisse; Founder, Edible Schoolyard Project; Adriano Espaillat, U.S. Representative for New York’s 13th Congressional District; John Piotti, CEO, American Farmland Trust; Caitlin Leibert, Vice President, Sustainability, Whole Foods Market; Sam Smidt, National Director of Land Use and Protection Research, American Farmland Trust; Bianca Moebius-Clune, Climate and Soil Health Director, American Farmland Trust; Jay Goldmark, Farm Manager, Stone House Farm; Tim Fink, Vice President of Policy, the American Farmland Trust; Lucy Bullock-Sieger, Vice President of Strategy, Lightstar Renewables; Anna Toenjes, Associate Vice President, Impact & Business Development, Sol System; Ethan Winter, National Smart Solar Director, American Farmland Trust; and many more to be announced. Special musical performance by Janayé McAlpine is a professional dancer and singer, best known for her roles in MJ: The Musical and Moulin Rouge! The Musical, with performances across Broadway, national tours, and cruise line productions. Register for this event HERE.

Afternoon Session: “Humanitarian Innovation in a World of Climate Extremes.” In partnership with World Food Program USA.

Confirmed speakers—and many more to be announced soon—include Andrew Zimmern, renowned American chef, restaurateur, TV and radio personality, food writer, director, producer, and businessman; Maddy DeVita, celebrated private chef and recipe developer, serves on the Zero Hunger Activist Council for World Food Program USA; Barron Segar, President and CEO, World Food Program USA; Nicole Clifton, President, Social Impact and The UPS Foundation; Vilas Dhar, President and CEO, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation; Chase Sova, Senior Director of Public Policy and Research, World Food Program USA; Kenneth Lee, Co-Founder, Lotus Foods; Cynthia Yue, Advocacy & Engagement Manager, World Food Program USA; and Emily Coppel, Food Communications and Policy Lead at the Rockefeller Foundation. Special musical performance featuring Bella Coppola, a Broadway actor and singer who originated Chloe in Smash and played Jane Seymour in SIX, accompanied by her longtime pianist and collaborator Adam Cole Klepper, Associate Music Director and pianist for Broadway’s Gypsy and Spamalot. Register for this event HERE.

Evening Session: “Catalyst Coffee” a new play written and presented by Food Tank.

Named by The Arts Fuse as “one of the best new shows of 2024,” Catalyst Coffee pulls you behind the counter and into the high-stakes world of a barista union campaign. This immersive theatrical workshop reading—directed by Lakisha May—blends sharp drama with bold questions about power, solidarity, and survival. Come for the show. Stay for the food, the drinks, and an evening of conflict and inspiration you’ll never forget. Special musical performance featuring Clair Rachel Howell, a Broadway and touring artist currently performing in Wicked on both Broadway and the National Tour, accompanied by Noah Turner, a New York–based music director and Broadway accompanist known for his work on Jersey Boys, The Sound of Music, and Joy the Musical. Register for this event HERE.

Wednesday, Sept 24th

Morning Session: “The Sustainability Leadership Summit: Strategies for Founders, CSOs, and Changemakers.” In partnership with Nature’s Fynd, Applegate, King Arthur Baking, Certified Origins, and ButcherBox.

Confirmed speakers include Marion Nestle, Professor Emerita at New York University; Nina Teicholz, Founder of the Nutrition Coalition; Sonya Gafsi Oblisk, Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer at Whole Foods Market; and Thomas Jonas, Co-founder and CEO of Nature’s Fynd; Helena Bottemiller Evich, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Food Fix; Amy Keister, Global Director of Sustainability, Compass Group; Stephanie Grotta, VP, Responsible Sourcing & Sustainable Capabilities, Target; Carolyn Gahn, Senior Director, Mission & Advocacy, Applegate; —with many more to be announced soon! Special performance from Sydni Moon, a Broadway actor and singer who made her debut in the 2024 revival of Elf the Musicaland is currently appearing in JOY: A New True Musical Off-Broadway. She will be accompanied byCullen Curth, a New York–based pianist and music director whose credits include the pre-Broadway production of The Karate Kid: The Musical and An Evening with Ben Platt at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. Register for this event HERE.

Afternoon Session: “2nd Annual Sustainable Foods Showcase.” In partnership with J.P. Morgan.

Talks and immersive tastings will feature Ron Ben-Israel, celebrity cake maker and television judge; Sarela Herrada, Co-Founder of SIMPLi; Anna Hammond, Founder & CEO of Matriark Food; Viraj Puri, Co-Founder and CEO of Gotham Greens; Mark Kaplan, Founder of Wholechain; Cecilia Chang, Chief Business Officer of Mission Barns; Michael Fox, Founder & CEO of Fable Food; Eben Bayer, Co-Founder of MyForest Foods; Brendan Summerville, Co-Founder and COO of Oishii; Julia Collins, Founder of Planet FWD; and Jay McEntire, CEO of Arva. Special musical performance from Afra Hines, currently appearing as one of the Stanley Daughters in Pirates! The Penzance Musical at Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre, is a celebrated Broadway performer whose credits include Hadestown, In the Heights, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, and Shuffle Along, with a national tour of Hamilton and a seven-year run as a Radio City Rockette. Register for this event HERE.

Thursday, Sept 25th

Morning Session: “Nourishing People, Planet, and our Future.” In partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation.

Confirmed speakers—and many more to be announced soon—include Adam Met, multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated musician with AJR and Founder of Planet Reimagined; Gunhild A. Stordalen, Founder and Executive Chair, EAT; Elizabeth Yee, Executive Vice President of Programs, The Rockefeller Foundation; Sara Farley, Vice President, Global Food Portfolio, The Rockefeller Foundation; Aulo Gelli, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Carmen Burbano de Lara, Director, School-Based Programmes, World Food Programme; Appolinaire Djikeng, Director General, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); Jennifer Burney, Professor of Environmental Social Sciences & Earth System Science, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability; Isabelle Kamariza, Founder & President, Solid’Africa, Rwanda; Gerardo Martinez, Founder and Owner, Wild Kid Acres in Edgewater, Maryland; Kate Mackenzie, Executive Director, Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, New York City; and Sweta Chakraborty, behavioral scientist and U.S. President of We Don’t Have Time. Special musical performance by Cajai Kennedy, a Broadway dancer and actress currently appearing in Wicked, who began her professional career at age 10 in The Lion King national tour and previously performed in Frozen on Broadway. Cajai will be accompanied by Elijah Caldwell, OBIE Award–winning pianist, vocalist, and multifaceted artist based in New York City, featured in the Pulitzer Prize– and Drama Desk Award–winning musical A Strange Loop. Register this event HERE.

Afternoon Session: “Food is Medicine and Eating for Health.” In partnership with the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation.

Confirmed speakers—and many more to be announced soon—include Grace Young, James Beard Award-Winning Cookbook Author, Food Historian, and Chinatown Advocate; Marcel Van Ooyen, President and CEO, GrowNYC; Nancy Easton, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Wellness in the Schools; Jilly Stephens, Chief Executive Officer, City Harvest; Leslie Gordon, President & CEO, Food Bank For New York City; Robert Graham, Co-Founder, FRESH Med; Kathleen Finlay, President, Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming; Christine Going, Senior Advisor, Food Security Program Office within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Lyndsey Waugh, Executive Director, Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation; Tony Hillery, Founder and Executive Director, Harlem Grown; A-dae Romero-Briones, Director of Programs, Native Agriculture & Food Systems, First Nations Development Institute; Dr. Geeta Maker-Clark, Director of Integrative Nutrition and Advocacy, NorthShore University HealthSystem; Stacey Vanek Smith, Senior Story Editor and Co-Host “Everybody’s Business” Podcast, Bloomberg; Dana Cowin, an award-winning journalist, former Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine and founder of Progressive Hedonist; and Leah Douglas, Agriculture and Energy Reporter, Reuters. Special musical performance from Racquel Williams, currently appearing on Broadway in The Book of Mormon, accompanied by Maria Caputo, a versatile pianist, composer, and music director who has worked Off-Broadway, at Feinstein’s/54 Below, and on Norwegian Cruise Lines. Register for this event HERE.

Evening Session. “Digital Futures: A Better Food Future Celebration at Climate Week NYC.” 7:00PM Reception. 7:30-9:00PM. Program. 9:00-10:00PM Reception. In partnership with Wholechain, Better Food Future, TikTok, and Journey Foods in support of the UN Global Compact Ocean Stewardship Coalition.

Confirmed speakers and performers—and many more to be announced soon—include Jidenna, Nigerian-American rapper, singer, and songwriter best known for his Grammy-nominated hit Classic Man and as a contributor to Doja Cat’s Planet Her (Deluxe), nominated for Album of the Year; @xosuigeneris (Suigeneris), a multi-talented music and fashion creator with 4.2 million followers and over 140 million likes on TikTok; Nnanna Kwabena, Grammy-winning producer, DJ, and longtime Jidenna collaborator, known for blending West African rhythm with contemporary hip hop and electronic production; Chelle Denton, who made her debut as Mary Jane in the first national tour of Jagged Little Pill (Aug 2022–Apr 2024), and most recently appeared on Broadway in Smash through June 2025; Adam Cole Klepper, Associate Music Director and pianist for Broadway’s Gypsy and Spamalot; Riana Lynn, Founder & CEO, Journey Foods; Mark Kaplan, Co-Founder & Partner, Wholechain; Fernando Bellese, Senior Director, World Wildlife Fund; Erik Giercksky, Head of Ocean Stewardship Coalition, UN Global Compact; and @flavapfever, a chef-comedian hybrid known for vibrant food content, with 128K followers and over 6.5 million likes on TikTok. Register for this event HERE.

Friday, Sept 26th

Morning Session: “Chefs Change the World.” In partnership with The James Beard Foundation and Organic Valley.

Confirmed speakers and performers—and many more to be announced soon—include Ruth Reichl, food writer and editor; former restaurant critic (Los Angeles Times and The New York Times), Editor-in-Chief at Gourmet magazine, and six-time James Beard Award winner; Florence Fabricant, food and wine writer, The New York Times; Eric Adjepong, chef, television personality, and author best known for his standout appearances on Top Chef and as the host of shows on Food Network and HGTV; Clare Reichenbach, CEO, James Beard Foundation; Sheryll Durrant, urban farmer, educator, and food-justice leader; Board President, Just Food and NYC New Roots; Melissa Clark, food writer, cookbook author, and New York Times columnist; Ashleigh Shanti, acclaimed chef and sommelier known for celebrating African-American culinary traditions and Appalachian cuisine; Joshua McFadden, James Beard Award–winning chef and restaurateur known for seasonal cooking and sustainable food practices; Priyanka Naik, Food Network champion and sustainability advocate known for her globally inspired cooking; Anne McBride, Vice President of Programs, James Beard Foundation; Geoffrey Kie, Indigenous chef and founder of Kie’s Pies from the Pueblo of Laguna; Rick Simington, Organic Valley; and Ingrid Hoffmann, chef and host of Top Chef Estrellas (Telemundo/NBC), Simply Delicioso (Cooking Channel), and Delicioso (Univision), and Advisor to “The Humans Who Feed Us.” Special musical performance by Caleb Grice, Mel Haygood, Brandon Jae-Min Large, and Brandon Burks, currently performing in the Broadway revival of Gypsy and members of the vocal group Penthouse IV. More to come! Register for this event HERE.

Afternoon Session: “Regenerative Food Systems: Scaling Impact from Soil to Shelf.” In partnership with Arva and Kiss the Ground.

Confirmed speakers with more to be announced include: Sam Kass, Founder, TROVE and Former Senior Policy Advisor for President Barack Obama’s Nutrition Policy, and Executive Director for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign; Evan Harrison, CEO of Kiss the Ground; Jay McEntire, CEO of Arva; Chloe Sorvino, food and agriculture journalist and author of Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat, Matthew Dillon, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Organic Trade Association; Patrick Brown, fourth-generation farmer from Warren County, North Carolina, and Director of Farmer Inclusion at Nature for Justice, championing regenerative equity and climate-resilient practices among farmers of color; Kimberley Sundy, Senior Director of Global Sustainability at Kellanova; Michael Benedetti, Senior Director of Sustainability, Regulatory, and Quality at Clover Sonoma; Vaughn Duitsman, Director of Sustainability at Bartlett; Steven Jennings, Stakeholder Relations & Brand Lead, Ahold Delhaize USA; Jamie Ager, a fourth-generation farmer and managing partner at Hickory Nut Gap, a regenerative farm in Fairview, North Carolina; and Alexia Akbay, CEO and Founder of Symbrosia, a marine biotech company pioneering red seaweed–based livestock feed that reduces methane emissions by more than 90 percent. Special musical performance by Emily Kristen Morris, a celebrated NYC-based actor, singer and popular online content creator (2+ million followers on Insta/TikTok), most known for her work as the Elphaba standby on the Broadway National Tour of WICKED and playing Bea on the Broadway National Tour of Something Rotten. Register for this event HERE.

Evening Experience: “A Night Honoring Our Farmers – Food and Agriculture Storytelling.”

Confirmed farmers include Ron Mardesen, a third-generation hog farmer from Elliott, Iowa, who has raised pigs for Niman Ranch for over 20 years using humane and sustainable practices; Karen Washington, a farmer, activist, and co-founder of Black Urban Growers, working to uplift food justice and community farming in the Bronx and beyond; Sabrina Servais, a passionate young dairy farmer and Assistant Herd Manager at her family’s Organic Valley member farm in Wisconsin; Sea Matias, a regenerative farmer and community organizer growing culturally relevant crops and advancing food sovereignty through mutual aid; Brian Mattingly, Director of Star Hill Farm Operations for Maker’s Mark, manages 1,100 acres of regenerative farmland in Kentucky, integrating crops and livestock for resilient agriculture; Bob Quinn, organic farmer and plant geneticist from Montana, revived ancient grains and promotes sustainable agriculture; Olivia Fuller, a fourth-generation farmer at Fuller Acres in upstate New York, raising pastured livestock and maple products on protected land to build a resilient and diversified future; Caroline Radice, co-owner of Black Dog Farm & Catering in Northern California and co-founder of the Good Farm Fund, supporting small farmers with microgrants and EBT access; and many more to be announced soon! Special musical performance by Joey Contreras, award-winning songwriter of the viral musical In Pieces, will perform a set of originals and covers. He’ll be joined by guitarist, Nick Potocki (Dead Outlaw) and Hannah Verdi, who is featured on the In Pieces: Highlights Deluxe album released by Broadway Records. Many more names to be announced! Register for this event HERE.

There’s something for everyone at Food Tank’s Climate Week NYC series, so I look forward to seeing each of you either in person or virtually (or both!) next month!

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Luca Bravo, Unsplash.

The post 240+ Speakers Are Joining Us at Climate Week NYC. Will You Be There Too? appeared first on Food Tank.

Despite global efforts to create more sustainable and resilient food systems, post-harvest food loss—especially in lower-income regions—remains a major obstacle. In Sub-Saharan Africa, this loss isn’t just about poor storage or transportation; it’s a symptom of deeper structural challenges tied to global trade, poverty and inequality.

Moses Kansanga—a human-environment geographer, assistant professor at the George Washington University, and affiliate faculty member at the Global Food Institute—has spent years studying how these dynamics play out on the ground in rural farming communities. His research weaves together issues of agricultural development, environmental sustainability, and local knowledge—offering a grounded, systems-level view of food loss and hope for solutions.

In this conversation with Global Food Institute’s Priya Fielding-Singh, Kansanga explains why we need to rethink how we tackle postharvest losses, the role of gender equity, and what he’s learned from the farmers at the center of this story.

What led you to focus your research on food systems and post-harvest loss, and what are the key questions you try to answer in your work?

What I do today reflects my lived experience growing up in northern Ghana, where food insecurity and climate change are profound issues.

I experienced a famine when I was only about three years old. I remember my mother going to the southern part of Ghana–which has better agroecological conditions–to work for food and send it back to us. I started to wonder why certain areas were doing better than others, even within the same country. That curiosity led me to study geography, a discipline that gave me the tools to explore inequality not just spatially, but also economically and politically.

The overarching question at the heart of my work today is: why do certain geographies continue to struggle with hunger? And, how can we do agriculture in ways that ensure higher yield and environmental integrity?

You’ve described food loss in Sub-Saharan Africa as more than just a technical issue–but rather, one tied to deeper structural challenges. Can you walk us through what that means, and why it matters for how we try to address it?

The solutions we pursue today are often like putting a bandage without antiseptic properties on a wound. It may provide cover alright, and perhaps be outwardly appealing, but it won’t suppress disease-causing microorganisms to ensure healing. When it comes to post-harvest food loss, we have focused more on proximate solutions like infrastructure and technology provision without addressing the underlying political economy dynamics that hold the key to preventing it.

Prevention requires addressing the politics behind food systems. A major issue is food dumping. Even with better infrastructure and technology, farmers in Africa will be outcompeted by cheaper imports from Europe and North America. For example, Ghana—a major tomato producer in Africa—imports a large amount of tomatoes from the Netherlands. Local farmers can’t compete with subsidized produce, so many have abandoned farming altogether. Ironically, some now work on tomato plantations in Europe!

So yes, road networks and cold storage are timely, but if international trade terms aren’t equitable, local farmers will still suffer losses. That’s why I argue that food loss isn’t just technical—it’s deeply political.

In your view, what kinds of changes–whether in policy, funding, or infrastructure–are most urgently needed to reduce food loss in ways that actually stick?

Because the problem is both technical and political, any effective solution must address both issues simultaneously.

We need technical infrastructure—roads, storage facilities, processing tools. But we also need to rethink trade agreements to address food dumping, particularly perishable commodities. African countries need the autonomy to say: we produce enough tomatoes, so we don’t need imports right now.

If some governments are unable to control the inflow of surplus perishable commodities from wealthier countries, even when local supply can meet demand, then we’re stuck. That’s where international organizations like the WTO must engage—if we want to end food loss, we must address trade policies.

If I had a magic wand, I would correct the power imbalances in trade between the Global North and Global South. If we create a level playing field, Africa’s innovative capacity will evolve to address these challenges.

What’s the role of gender inequality when it comes to postharvest loss?

I see gender reflected at two levels. First is the everyday material reality—women often don’t have access to productive resources like land. They dominate the production, processing, preservation, and marketing stages of the value chain, but they don’t control the resources. Women have little access to efficient technology, so they lose more of their harvest. 

Second is political exclusion. Women are largely absent from decision-making spaces—from local government to community leadership. That means their challenges are often invisible in the policy making sub-system. So food loss is a gendered problem—which has deep implications for household income, education, and well-being.

What kinds of solutions can address those gender dynamics?

In Ghana, we are focusing on using a “gender transformative approach” which includes creating shared spaces for discussing post-harvest loss issues at the community level. We’re training women in post-harvest loss practices and helping them engage with traditional leaders to negotiate and challenge norms—like the belief that women shouldn’t own land.

We’re starting to see shifts. Some traditional leaders are recognizing these gender gaps and granting women access to productive resources. As women’s voices grow stronger, I believe the gendered food loss burden will be addressed. This form of community-led change is driven by the people, not imposed from outside.

One thing that stands out about your work is that you have spent a lot of time talking with farmers and centering their experiences. What have farmers taught you about the pressures they face, and what they actually need to farm sustainably and successfully?

Before I started engaging farmers in the fields, I had some preconceived ideas as a young scholar. I thought that smallholder farmers were isolated from or less knowledgeable about the global-level food politics that critical scholars talk about. 

Over the years I’ve been amazed at how deeply knowledgeable they are about these issues. If we had farmers on national television around the world, you would be amazed at all the things that they know! Unfortunately, they lack such a platform to share their knowledge and experiences. So in my work, I like to make sure I am there with them, being physically connected to what they do and understanding how that relates to broader challenges. 

Despite the challenges your work explores, what gives you hope about where things are headed in the communities you work with?

The resilience of the farmers. I’ve seen many communities that have been neglected for so long, but they haven’t given up. They’re still working, feeding their families with the little they produce and pushing for change.

When I see women innovating with no support, or young people who say, “we want to farm,” despite the odds—that keeps me going. It gives me hope. If we fix the politics and give farmers the tools they need, we can solve this.

The post Unpacking the Root Causes of Postharvest Loss: Q&A with Moses Kansanga appeared first on Food Tank.

After years of working in the film industry, Hillary Cohen and Samantha Luu noticed a problem: the massive amounts of food thrown away after film shoots. They were troubled by this waste given that an estimated 16 percent of city residents live in poverty, according to the U.S. census, and Housing Anywhere reports that the cost of living in Los Angeles is double the national average. Cohen and Luu knew there had to be a solution.

“It’s a problem that can be solved, and it needs to be solved,” Cohen tells Food Tank.

Cohen and Luu founded Everyday Action in the fall of 2020, just months after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The organization takes donated leftover food from film and TV sets, corporate events, grocery stores, and more, reallocating it to food-insecure beneficiaries across a 90-mile area. Its drivers are typically film-industry professionals who need supplemental income.

“I think that food reallocation is a solution to hunger in America, and it’s just going to become more and more prevalent as time goes,” Cohen says. According to Feeding America, about 42 billion kilograms of food is wasted every year. By distributing food that would otherwise be thrown away, EDA works to reduce both food waste and hunger.

The process of reallocation, though, can be challenging, Cohen says. Donors can be wary of the legality of donating food. “In the beginning, we were just trying to convince people that it’s okay to give away gourmet food that you yourself would keep eating. You know, it’s worse to throw it out,” explains Cohen.

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996 provided liability protection for food donors, and the Food Donation Improvement Act, signed into law in 2022, offers further protection.

Still, Cohen and Luu say that some donors remain concerned that they will be held responsible should the donated products cause recipients harm. That’s why they created a liability clause for EDA contracts, providing reassurance to donors that they would not be held liable.

Packaging and transportation logistics are also consistent challenges for EDA. Every set is different, Cohen says, which means it is an ongoing consideration to ensure that packaging preserves food safety and is managed efficiently. All drivers and reallocators undergo mandatory food safety training, as food deliveries sometimes take place overnight.

Luckily, Cohen says, the years she and Luu spent in the film industry have fortified them against long hours and logistical nightmares. “The only way Sam and I have built this is because we’re assistant directors who can do 700 things at once,” Cohen tells Food Tank. “An assistant director always says yes and figures it out.”

“Planning things on a massive scale, being in charge of reallocating waste, that’s easy for me and Sam,” Cohen says. “It’s allowed for Everyday Action to grow faster than other spaces, because we are such big do-er type humans.”

New warehouse space will also allow EDA to grow further. Cohen says the space, which will be shared with three other nonprofits, is “going to allow EDA to serve all of our beneficiaries more clearly,” by allowing the organization to pause, store food safely in refrigerators, and pay more attention to meeting specific needs. It also allows EDA to take larger donations, as the warehouse can store pallets of food.

Food donation and other types of mutual aid have been especially prevalent in Los Angeles during and after the recent Palisades and Eaton fires. The LA Food Bank reports having increased its poundage intake by 30 percent in the week after the fires started.

“It was beautiful to see Los Angeles respond. In a city full of coordinators, of course, everyone’s going to go off and plan,” Cohen says. “So it was cool to see this massive collective effort coming together. Everyday action certainly had a surplus of people wanting to donate lots of things.”

Looking forward, Cohen says she is focused on securing stable funds for EDA.

For now, Cohen emphasizes the importance of taking action without hesitation. “Everyday Action is about inspiring people to do something every day, whether that is in food insecurity or not,” she explains. “Put your phone down, stop yelling about it, stop talking about it, and go do something.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Everyday Action

The post Los Angeles Nonprofit Aims to Reduce Film Industry Food Waste, Address Food Insecurity appeared first on Food Tank.

According to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), the world wasted over 1.05 billion tons of food in 2022. About 60 percent of waste occurred at the household level, followed by foodservice, then retail.

“We are living a paradox where we have 800 million people facing hunger and at the same time we are losing or wasting 30 percent of the food,” Ana Catalina Suárez Peña, Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation at the Global FoodBanking Network, tells Food Tank.

Much of this food ends up in landfills, where it emits methane—a potent greenhouse gas. About 50 percent of the waste in landfills is organic, says Suarez Peña.

“The most important policy should be around prevention, and then it should be keeping food in the human supply chain,” Heather Latino, Clinical Instructor at Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic tells Food Tank. “Only after that should we be thinking about things like getting it to animal feed or composting or disposal,” she says.

South Korea’s policies encourage prevention and food waste recycling. The country banned food waste disposal in landfills in 2005 and implemented mandatory composting for all generators, including individuals, in 2013. They focus on prevention by charging generators based on the volume of food waste they produce, which they track using chip technology. For households, the price tag is small, about US$0.06 per kilogram. But the consequences for improperly disposing of food waste are significant: industrial producers are subject to imprisonment and up to US$22,500 in fines, and households may be fined up to US$7,500.

While Latino thinks enforcement mechanisms are important, she doesn’t think punitive measures have been the most influential parts of these policies. In South Korea, she highlights robust public outreach and education campaigns throughout and beyond the policy-making process.

Latino thinks the same trend holds for France. The country began to phase in mandatory composting in 2012, and in 2016 they prohibited supermarkets from destroying surplus food. They also require supermarkets to form partnerships with food recovery organizations.

“Some people I talked to in France weren’t aware of any enforcement actions,” says Latino, which include fines and potential imprisonment. Despite this, a government survey finds that 80 percent of the covered entities were complying with the policies.

Like France, Peru requires that supermarkets and food warehouses donate surplus food instead of throwing it away. Though the law includes tax incentives, it does not currently have an enforcement mechanism. Stakeholders in the report describe an ongoing lack of awareness around the food donation requirement and express a desire for more governmental guidance and technical assistance.

Despite differences in policy design, the report shows that policies in all three countries have achieved some form of success. “The most remarkable statistic coming out of South Korea is that by 2014 they were sending 96 percent of their food waste to recycling,” says Latino, noting that this marks a 60 percent increase over 13 years.

France saw increases in the amount, frequency, and diversity of food donations. According to Cosmero, 96 percent of surveyed supermarkets had food donation contracts in place three years after enactment of the Food Donation Contract Requirement, and half of the supermarkets were donating daily.

Peru is just beginning to develop a methodology for tracking food loss and waste data. But the available data show that in the year following enactment of the Food Donation Requirement, food bank donations tripled. But waste generation in Peru is growing overall, according to the report.

While it’s difficult to quantify direct policy impacts on methane emissions, the report shows emissions reductions in South Korea and France. In contrast, Peru has seen an increase in emissions. But according to Latino, the country has suffered significant political and climatic instability in recent years, which has slowed progress on food waste reduction efforts.

“The main message here is there is not a perfect formula to be successful,” says Suarez Peña. “It’s a mix of things. Sometimes regulations are better. Sometimes incentives work better. It depends on the country and context.”

No matter the policy, Latino underscores the importance of robust stakeholder engagement, public education, phased implementation, and “making sure that you have the right incentives in place.”

“Even in a perfect world, there’s going to be surplus food,” says Latino. “The key is making sure it’s more affordable to keep food in the human supply chain than to throw it away.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Lesly Derksen, Unsplash

The post Food Waste Policies in Three Countries: Are They Working? appeared first on Food Tank.

MCURC is a global collaboration of more than 80 colleges and universities, foodservice companies, and research collaborators advancing plant-forward diets and reducing food waste in campus dining. During a 12-week research sprint, MCURC chefs at 9 university dining halls developed and implemented recipes with repurposed ingredients. MCURC teamed up with ReFED, a food waste nonprofit in the United States, to track and analyze the data.

Sara Burnett, Executive Director of ReFED, tells Food Tank that when it comes to reducing food waste, prevention should always come first. But, she says, “We can’t prevent all the waste. We’re not able to predict exactly how much to produce all the time. Repurposing is the next step on that journey…It is a way to get through all that volatility that naturally happens in foodservice.”

According to ReFED, the U.S. generated 73.9 million tons of surplus food in 2023. The foodservice sector produced 17.2 percent of that—about 13 million tons.

The MCURC chefs were tasked with designing and implementing one or two repurposed recipes. Over the course of the research sprint, they tracked metrics including cost and pre-consumer food waste.

“Our goal was really to look at how chefs’ creativity could be utilized as a food waste solution,” Abby Fammartino, Co-Director of MCURC, tells Food Tank. “We wanted to know, how does repurposing as a food waste solution impact an operation, quantitatively and qualitatively?”

“When we started a lot of this [research], the concern, or the hesitancy within leadership in our division was, is that going to be possible? That sounds like a lot,” Brian Cochrane, Head Chef at Vanderbilt University and a participant in the research sprint tells Food Tank.

Cochrane thought they might encounter staff resistance to repurposing food. “We thought the chef would have to use a lot more of their own energy,” says Cochrane. But he continues, “What we learned was actually the antithesis of what we anticipated.”

Cochrane’s kitchen started by developing a broccoli slaw recipe using repurposed broccoli stems. Cochrane says, “The cooks assistants, our prep cooks, you know, they got excited. They got invigorated…they started saving everything…they became part of that energy.”

Fammartino notes that they observed increased staff excitement and engagement across institutions. “That was the biggest takeaway that we heard… that it was very fun for the teams and inspiring, motivating for the chefs to work on this challenge.”

Repurposing also delivered quantitative savings, ReFED’s data show. The Repurpose with a Purpose Operational Toolkit distills the research findings into cost-effective, plant-forward strategies for repurposing food.

“In just one calendar month, across those nine universities, they saved about US$20,000 in food costs, which equated to 21,000 gallons of water and 545,000 tons of carbon emissions,” reports Burnett. And, she adds, “you did all that while making your employees more engaged and excited about going to work.”

Fammartino emphasizes that these savings were realized with just one or two recipe substitutions at each of the nine participating colleges. “You can extrapolate that if you’re doing more than more than just two recipes, using repurposing to sort of guide the way you’re leading your operation, then there can be even more savings.”

In Cochrane’s kitchen, creative repurposing has become a cornerstone of their operation, the chef says. Since the research sprint, his team has developed a repurposed sorghum grain salad with dressing made from aquafaba—the liquid in chickpea cans. They have also repurposed fruit pulp into curds and cobblers.

Cochrane thinks that recipes like these, some of which are included in the Toolkit, will be useful for chefs at other dining halls and institutions.

“An operation like ours is fluid, it’s non-stop, and we need something turnkey. Those recipes are so valuable to us to be able to just say, like, here, it’s easy, do this,” says Cochrane.

And students are enjoying the recipes. Cochrane tells Food Tank that the dining hall that participated in the repurposing challenge—one of several at Vanderbilt—“has actually become the most popular residential college dining hall on campus.”

MCURC and ReFED are now working to disseminate the Toolkit, which they hope will provide actionable steps for organizations that want to create more sustainable menus.

“At the end of the day, every kitchen leader is really looking for win-win solutions,” says Burnett. “And repurposing is just that…It’s really that kind of triple bottom line win that everybody’s looking for.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Dieny Portinanni, Unsplash 

The post Repurposing Food Waste in University Dining: A Triple Win appeared first on Food Tank.

Food waste is a “a big problem with big numbers behind it,” says Dana Gunders, President of ReFED. The U.N. Environment Programme estimates that 1 billion meals go to waste every day, contributing to at least 8-10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally. And in the U.S. alone, uneaten food equates to roughly US$380 billion.

Gunders also says that awareness of the problem has increased significantly. That’s exciting, but it’s also important to turn that awareness into action. And fortunately there are solutions, from organizations that rescue surplus food and redirect to those in need to apps and new technologies that help us manage the excess.

To kick off Earth Month on April 1, Food Tank, in collaboration with Compass Group, NYU Steinhardt, and Mill, will host a special Stop Food Waste Day celebration in New York City. The event will bring together food systems experts, local food-waste warriors, Broadway performers, youth poets, surprise celebrity guests, and more to uplift and amplify the different ways we can take action on food waste.

Speakers include (in alphabetical order): Jennifer Berg, NYU Steinhardt; Chris Ivens-Brown, Compass Group; Natasha Bernstein Bunzl, NYU Steinhardt; Andrew Fisher Jr., 10 Year-Old Youth Poet; Harrison Herz, NYU Steinhardt; Tony Hillery, Harlem Grown; Sam Kass, Investor, Chef, Policy Advisor; Amy Keister, Compass Group; Robert Lee, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine; Priyanka Naik, Celebrity Chef and Cookbook Author; Jennifer Noble, Broadway Actor; Prahlada Rastogi, 10 Year-Old Youth Poet; Merrill Schaefer, 13 Year-Old Youth Poet; Harry Tannenbaum, Mill; and more to be announced soon!

Learn more about ways to take action on food waste in a new piece on Forbes by clicking HERE.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of USF

The post The Future of Food Is Zero Waste—Are We Ready? appeared first on Food Tank.

The RFI comes from the USDA’S Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the FDA. The agencies are seeking responses by March 5th, 2025 to better understand barriers to standardizing date labeling, research on consumer perceptions of date labels, and the impact date labels can have on food loss and waste and on food donation.

The Coalition’s toolkit helps eaters navigate the comment process. It includes comment templates for individuals, organizations, and industry members. It also contains instructions to submit comments along with sample copy to amplify the RFI through social media and newsletters.

The post USDA, FDA Seek Information on Importance of Standardized Food Date Labeling appeared first on Food Tank.

While the future of USAID is uncertain, over half a billion metric tons of international food aid sits “at ports, in transit, and in warehouses at risk of spoilage, unanticipated storage needs, and diversion,” the OIG report states. This total includes approximately 29,000 metric tons in Houston, Texas, 40,000 metric tons in Djibouti, 10,000 metric tons in South Africa, and 500,000 additional metric tons already at sea or awaiting shipment. 

USAID and its subsidiaries buy commodity crops like corn, wheat, and sorghum (also known as milo) from American farmers, simultaneously providing income for U.S. producers and delivering essential services abroad. The U.S. provided approximately US$70 billion in international aid—not including most military aid—in 2023, according to Pew Research Center, representing about 1 percent of the federal budget.

The report explains that “emergency food aid commodities supplied by U.S. manufacturers and American farmers” are regularly stored in USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Aid warehouses in the United States as required by law, sourced from American farmers and funded by Title II Food for Peace and Community Credit Corporation programs. “Because this funding source was not included under the Secretary’s emergency food assistance waiver, these commodities were held in limbo,” the report reads. 

In addition to this current potential food waste, the loss of some USAID programs could lead to future domestic food waste and loss of income for farmers. About 40 percent of international food aid from the U.S. is sourced from American farmers and manufacturers, according to a 2021 report by the Congressional Research Service. 

Kansas farmers have expressed concern over crop waste without the USAID as a buyer. The Title II Food for Peace program under USAID, has routinely purchased surplus crops from farmers and distributed them with the goal of reducing world hunger and advancing international relationships.

“Kansas farmers take great pride in Food for Peace and the impact the program and American commodities have had on feeding the world,” said Chris Tanner, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers President. U.S. Senator Moran (R-KS) and U.S. Congressmember Tracey Mann (R-KS) have proposed legislation that would move Food for Peace to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). On February 12, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said that Secretary Marco Rubio is coordinating with the USDA to resume Food for Peace.

Anti-food waste advocates are alarmed about the potential waste caused by USAID interruptions. “When the food doesn’t get to where it needs to go, it winds up in a landfill, and that has devastating effects,” says Ashley Stanley, CEO of the Massachusetts nonprofit food recovery organization Spoonfuls.

Although Rubio’s initial “stop work” order to USAID included exceptions for emergency assistance, “recent widespread staffing reductions across the Agency … coupled with uncertainty about the scope of foreign assistance waivers and permissible communications with implementers, has degraded USAID’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance,” the report states. The author of the report, Paul Martin, was fired the day after it was released.

Secretary Rubio defended the administration’s actions, stating, “We are walking away from foreign aid that’s dumb, that’s stupid, that wastes American taxpayer money.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Carlos Aranda, Unsplash

The post Over US$489 Million Worth of Food Assistance Stalled Due to USAID Freeze appeared first on Food Tank.

The Food Planet Prize was established to drive a rapid transition to a sustainable global food system. Climate and sustainability scientists emphasize the importance of staying within the planetary boundaries, the safe operating space for a healthy Earth. Human activities have already caused transgressions of six of the nine boundaries. The food system is the single most effective way to revert to safety, as all the boundaries are intrinsically linked to what we eat, and we can’t choose to stop eating.

As the main activity of the Curt Bergfors Foundation, the Food Planet Prize awards initiatives that have the potential to make a transformative impact on food systems sustainability. This reward for potential, rather than past success, sets the Food Planet Prize apart from other awards. Because of the vast array of ways the food system affects the planet’s wellbeing, the Food Planet Prize is interested in supporting initiatives from all parts of the food value chain and all corners of the world. Both nonprofit and for-profit initiatives are eligible. The main criteria are that initiatives have a clear focus on reducing the environmental impact of the food system and the possibility of scaling up their work.

The Food Planet Prize Secretariat receives around 1000 nominations each year. After reviewing every nomination, the team develops a longlist of roughly 50 initiatives followed by a shortlist of up to 10, striving to maintain a diversity of innovations and geographies. Each stage of the evaluation process increases in rigor. The jury, an international mix of academic experts and practitioners, ultimately votes on the winner, which is announced in Stockholm in June.

Here’s a short selection of previous winners, representing different countries and approaches:

C40 Food Systems helps cities around the world shift to sustainable food consumption patterns, including by developing ambitious food policies, redesigning public procurement, and reducing food loss and waste.

The Agrobiodiversity Index measures the status of biodiversity in food and agriculture, addressing consumption, production, and genetic resources. Agrobiodiversity Index indicators are aligned with the SDGs and Aichi Biodiversity target.

ColdHubs offers solar-powered cold storage facilities that extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, reducing post-harvest loss and improving food safety and farmers’ revenue.

The Global Mangrove Alliance works to reverse mangrove loss and increase mangrove habitat. Mangrove ecosystems provide community livelihoods, function as biodiversity hotspots, and help mitigate the effects of climate change.

The Land Institute is creating a radical agricultural system that recreates natural cycles and processes—consisting of perennial crop species grown in polyculture configurations that maximize water uptake, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, solar capture, and natural pest suppression.

And Sanergy developed insect-based methods to convert human waste from urban slums into organic fertilizers and animal feed for commercial and smallholder farms—turning sanitation problems into opportunities for food production.

Creating a global food system that is sustainable rather than environmentally-damaging requires a myriad of solutions. If you know of an initiative that could make a difference, please nominate via a short online nominations form. Nominations received by March/April 2025 will be considered for the 2026 Prize.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo by Erik Elsson

The post The Food Planet Prize Supports Diverse Initiatives Contributing to a Sustainable Food System appeared first on Food Tank.

“Understanding the main sources of methane from surplus food helps us identify those solutions that can do the most to reduce those sources,” Minnie Ringland, a Climate Analyst with ReFED and a co-author on the report, tells Food Tank.

ReFED finds that solutions to divert food scraps from landfills and sewers, such as organic waste bans, can do the most to reduce methane emissions from surplus food. These strategies “address the largest volume of material,” Ringland explains.

But date label standardization and other strategies that prevent food from being wasted in the first place offer the highest methane reduction potential.

ReFED groups their proposed solutions into three categories: Recycling infrastructure that diverts organic material from landfill and sewer, consumer facing education and intervention, and food business efficiency and utilization.

Accurate emissions measurements are key in creating change, ReFED emphasizes. According to the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics released by the Biden-Harris Administration, “Data gaps and limitations make it difficult to understand the extent and consequences of food loss and waste, track progress toward the national and international goals, and measure success.”

“What gets measured, gets managed,” Ringland says, adding that business executives find solutions when they see the “sources and volume of food waste in their operations.”

Methane is 86 times more potent than CO2, according to the Global Methane Hub, but it also stays in the atmosphere for 12 years. Because of this short lifespan, Ringland calls methane reduction an “emergency brake” action against climate change. “If we can slash methane emissions today, the warming effect of those molecules in the atmosphere will be dramatically reduced within the next two decades,” she tells Food Tank.

ReFED’s new data adds methane-specific emissions information to the organization’s impact calculator. The calculator provides food businesses, policymakers, advocates, and funders with information on emissions. According to the report, this can allow them to “take decisive action and drive meaningful progress,” equipped with knowledge on the benefits they can gain from reducing emissions.

Consumers and eaters can make a difference too, by “only buying and preparing as much as you really need, storing ingredients to maximize their shelf-life, and finding ways to use every part of the ingredient,” Ringland says. “While many individual actions can often feel powerless in the face of the climate crisis, the food system in particular is highly driven by consumer purchasing power,” she tells Food Tank. “I personally think that collective awareness and behavior change can ultimately lead to systemic positive impact.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The post ReFED Reveals Methane Hotspots and Food Waste Solutions appeared first on Food Tank.

Made of leftover grape skin, seeds, and stems, pomace is rich in antioxidants, nutrients, and bioactive compounds. When added to their feed, pomace promotes chicken growth and immune health while reducing susceptibility to infections and common pathogens, Elad Tako, Principal Investigator of The Tako Research Group, where Phytoflock’s research is conducted, tells Food Tank.

The benefits from grape pomace, Tako explains, closely mirror those that antibiotics have been administered to accomplish for decades. Researchers in the 1940s demonstrated that antibiotics could promote poultry growth and efficient conversion of feed to weight gain, according to an article published in Public Health Reports, and within five years the use of antibiotics to promote animal growth was “common.” By the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finds, the practice was “widely used.”

Antibiotics have historically been used in poultry production to treat, control, and prevent infectious diseases like Salmonella, E. coli, and Clostridium—diseases that pose major concerns for poultry farmers, according to a USDA report.

Antibiotics increase chicken life expectancy and size and contribute to food safety, an article in the Journal of Microorganisms finds. But their overuse creates substantial risk to both animal and human health, Albert Charles, the Founder of Phytoflock, tells Food Tank.

Heavy use of antibiotics has resulted in the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), causing a public health concern that UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed describes as “one of the greatest threats we face as a global community.”

AMR occurs when microorganisms like bacteria develop increasing drug resistance, which in turn reduces drug efficacy.  According to the USDA, the more antimicrobials administered, the stronger the resistance grows. And FDA research indicates that antimicrobial resistance that develops in chickens can be transferred to people, disseminating AMR down the food chain.

In 2019, 4.95 million deaths were associated with bacterial antibiotic resistance, with 1.27 million deaths directly attributable to bacterial AMR, the World Health Organization reports, and, in response, countries around the world are increasing restrictions on the use of antibiotics in farmed animals.

While the U.S. is behind, it’s very clearly moving in the same direction, Tako tells Food Tank. Antibiotics are already prohibited in the U.S. organic industry and the FDA is progressively tightening antibiotic restrictions in the non-organic industry to combat AMR.

Leveraging pomace’s nutritional benefits, Phytoflock is proposing an alternative method of achieving the immune and growth benefits gleaned from antibiotic use, while avoiding the associated toll on animal and human health. By using an upcycled product as their primary feed additive ingredient, Phytoflock is also helping reduce food waste and its environmental impact.

The Finger Lakes region, where Phytoflock is based, is the second largest Concord grape producing region in the world, which means it is also a large producer of pomace. According to Tako, New York State alone generates around 13,600 kilograms of pomace annually, most of which is discarded.

Diverting pomace from landfills also helps reduce the byproduct’s environmental impact, explains Tako. In the presence of oxidants, light, and heat, pomace dumped into landfills ferments almost immediately, according to an article published in the Animal Nutrition journal. This can spoil nearby soils, Tako says, and pollute surface and groundwater.

Charles says that Phytoflock is currently working on scaling up, conducting trials to evaluate how the use of grape pomace as a feed additive affects increasingly larger groups of chickens. Market adoption will require trust and demonstrated success, he explains.

Another priority is keeping costs down. Charles highlights the importance of being conscious of the numerous costs associated with growing a bird, and how that affects lower-budget consumers down the line.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Meizhi Lang, Unsplash

The post Can Grape Pomace Replace Antibiotics in Poultry Farming? appeared first on Food Tank.

In 2022, 88.7 million tons of food in the United States went unsold or uneaten, with 32.6 million tons ending up in landfills, according to ReFED’s Food Waste Monitor. And wasted food is wasted nutrients: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that uneaten food contains enough calories to feed over 150 million people each year, exceeding the approximate 35 million food insecure Americans.

Stacy Savage, Founder and CEO of ZWS, a company that specializes in waste reduction, first encountered the frustration of food waste when working as a food industry server in Austin. Throwing away untouched food while others nearby struggled to eat was “like a knife to the heart,” Savage tells Food Tank.

Now a zero-waste specialist known as the “Texas Trash Talker,” Savage was initially drawn to environmental activism by an Austin Chronicle advertisement offering an opportunity “to fight the man.” She spent nine years grassroots organizing for a nonpartisan environmental organization, contributing to initiatives supporting legislation on issues including electronic waste recycling and curbside residential recycling and composting.

Driving home one evening, it occurred to Savage that she had developed a unique network of government officials, waste management companies, and environmental activists. Savage saw an opportunity in the community she had built and, the next day, launched ZWS.

ZWS now helps businesses reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost waste. When conducting waste audits, a primary service offered by ZWS, Savage and her team pick through business’ garbage, recycling, and compost to generate a report analyzing the functionality and efficiency of their waste systems and tailored recommendations for improvement.

“Especially food waste,” Savage says. “If they have a food permit, that’s when we really get into the nitty-gritty.” ZWS helps businesses reduce and manage food waste with creative solutions like color-coded compost bins and staff trainings on the impact of food waste, which, Savage says, gives employees renewed empowerment and enthusiasm.

When food surplus is unavoidable, ZWS advocates food donations. Food donation has become a popular response to food waste globally, according to the Global Donation Policy Atlas, and is ranked by the EPA’s Wasted Food Scale as the next best strategy when food waste cannot be prevented.

In the U.S., and in Savage’s experience, however, fear of legal liability remains a barrier to food donations.

Since 1996, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act has protected good faith food donations to nonprofit organizations that serve the hungry or food insecure. But the Emerson Act was often misunderstood, causing longstanding confusion among potential donors.

Twenty years after enactment of the Act, a Food Waste Reduction Alliance survey found that 67, 61, and 54 percent of manufacturers, restaurants, and retailers, respectively, were concerned about the liability of food donations.

To clarify and expand the protections under the Emerson Act, the Food Donation Improvement Act (FDIA) was signed into law in January 2023. The FDIA extends protection to donors like caterers and wholesalers, and makes it easier for businesses to donate food directly to those in need.

But Savage says that some businesses are still wary of liability, and they deem it safer to discard excess food rather than risk potential legal action and associated bad publicity. To avoid that, ZWS ensures its clients understand the protections that the current law offers. After analyzing clients’ food waste composition, ZWS advises on what to donate and how to do so safely.

ZWS also facilitates partnerships with local volunteer-run organizations and food banks that pick-up and redistribute food donations, helping clients ensure that donations are handled properly while in transit and in storage.

Educating clients on the advantages of food donations helps inspire additional interest and participation, Savage says. Donating surplus foods provides an opportunity for positive promotional exposure, and the possibility of earning a general federal tax deduction or, under some circumstances, an enhanced tax deduction.

Claiming a deduction is simple, Savage describes, but the key is good recordkeeping. ZWS helps clients track relevant information—including costs and the would-be sales price of donations—ensuring clients get the full deduction they are entitled to.

For Savage, diverting surplus food from landfills by giving it to hungry community members is the highest and best use of food waste, and the biggest incentive to do so is the opportunity to do the right thing. “People know what it feels like to be hungry,” she says, “but most people don’t know what it feels like to be starving.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Pawel Czerwinski, Unsplash

The post Zero Waste Strategies Tackles Liability Fears in Food Donation appeared first on Food Tank.

Bans on organic waste, or food waste, offer a tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “In requiring food scraps to go somewhere other than landfills, waste bans help to avoid the methane that typically comes from food rotting in landfills,” Dana Gunders, President of ReFED, tells Food Tank. The study reports that compared with landfilling food, composting generates 38 percent to 84 percent less methane.

But of the five states with organic waste bans analyzed, only Massachusetts shows a statistically significant reduction in waste. Key factors for success may include clarity of the law, investment in composting infrastructure, and policy enforcement.

“It was surprising to find that several of these laws do not seem to be working. But if we look at it a little bit more optimistically, it’s also surprising how well one of them worked,” Fiorentia Anglou, PhD Candidate at the University of Texas and co-author of the study, tells Food Tank.

Anglou and her research team estimate that if a state’s ban is working, they can expect to see between a 10 to 15 percent reduction in landfilled waste. Massachusetts was exactly on target with an estimated waste reduction of 13.2 percent. In California, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont however, researchers find no significant waste reduction.

According to Anglou, “[Massachusetts has] a very simple law that people can understand, it doesn’t change often, it doesn’t have any exemptions.” This clarity may be helping the policy to have its intended effect.

Massachusetts first implemented an organic waste ban in 2014. The original regulation banned large businesses from disposing of organic waste in the landfill. The ban initially applied to companies that generated over 1 ton of organic material weekly. A 2022 revision lowered that threshold to a half ton weekly.

Anglou believes that careful implementation is crucial in supporting policy success. Gunders agrees, saying policymakers in other states can learn from Massachusetts’ phased implementation. “By starting with large generators or with longer lead times, [bans] can provide the incentive for infrastructure to develop, while also making sure there’s a place for the food scraps to go once the law is enforced,” she says.

Anglou calls infrastructure a “no-brainer.” She continues, “If you want businesses to comply, you cannot have composting that is ten times as expensive as landfilling. You don’t want to make the businesses in your state suffer. You want to help the environment, help the businesses, and to do that I think you need to invest in infrastructure,” she tells Food Tank.

Massachusetts has the densest composting infrastructure network of all analyzed states, according to the study.

Gunders believes that organic waste bans can provide other states with motivation to invest in more composting facilities. “They establish demand for the development of organics recycling infrastructure, which requires a lot of capital investment and does not always have a business model if waste bans aren’t in place,” she explains.

While a commercial waste ban only targets large businesses and institutions, the resulting expansion in waste disposal infrastructure can benefit smaller organizations too. Guidelines from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) encourage all businesses, regardless of size, to consider diverting organic waste to potentially save money.

Gunders says that waste bans can have a “cascading effect” when it comes to food waste policy. “Commercial food waste bans can be a great initial first step to incentivize and build out organics recycling infrastructure, followed by a residential ban once systems are up and running,” she tells Food Tank.

Food waste bans can also drive economic growth, Gunders says. “Massachusetts found that in two years, the commercial food waste ban created more than 900 new jobs, and US$175 million in economic activity. That, on its own, might interest other policymakers to follow suit,” she tells Food Tank. While some states may not have initially seen the waste reductions policymakers anticipated, Gunders emphasizes the long run importance of this policy mechanism. “More recent reporting from California and  Vermont suggest the bans are indeed working,” she explains.

“These are very very powerful policies,” says Anglou. “I think that other states who want to implement new bans should probably look at the example of Massachusetts and adopt a law that is easy to understand, and seriously invest in enforcement and infrastructure.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

The post Effective Waste Management: Lessons from Massachusetts appeared first on Food Tank.

PCFWC is a public-private partnership and voluntary agreement signed by businesses, government bodies, and other groups working toward industry-wide actions to prevent and reduce food waste. The Commitment includes stakeholders in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.

According to the study, grocery stores were able to reduce the amount of unsold food by almost 190,000 tons in monitored stores between 2019 and 2022. Unsold food rates “measure the share of inventory retailers fail to sell,” the report says.

Across departments, the bread and bakery section saw the highest value of unsold food items across retail outlets. Predicting demand for fresh, made-onsite items, on any given day, and at any given store, is very difficult, says Jackie Suggitt, Vice President for Business Initiatives & Community Engagement at ReFED. The department items are also highly perishable, often unpackaged, and on display near the hot bar or deli.

“A big challenge with food waste initiatives across the board is the lack of data,” Suggitt tells Food Tank. Retailers often struggle to track progress around retail food waste due to limited information. But this new study aims to change this, serving as the most recent analysis of retail food waste and the longest year-over-year aggregated dataset in the country.

The data collection challenge is partly due to a lack of standardization and predictability in the food industry, Suggitt says. The tools used to measure food waste were originally designed to measure other information. These tools will need to be adapted to collect the necessary food waste data.

Another challenge is the focus of internal reports, which may concentrate on indicators such as sales and growth. Data may also be collected and housed in one department or sector, resulting in inconsistent access and visibility to core metrics across the full business.

Suggitt states that businesses that join the PCFWC have access to data collection and analysis, allowing them to benchmark against their peers, learn more about food waste hotspots within their operations, and target solutions more effectively. ReFED’s analysis estimates that across the entire food system, implementing the solutions set would yield a five-to-one net economic benefit.

In exchange for information and support from ReFED and the PCFWC, signatory businesses commit to reporting data annually about the food waste in their operations.

Additionally, PCFWC signatories are “able to participate in intervention projects, in which solutions and strategies are piloted to demonstrate their effectiveness and serve as examples for other businesses and sectors to adopt and scale,” Suggitt says. Businesses across the supply chain can also “participate in pre-competitive working groups and sector summits” to collaborate on addressing pressing issues.

Technology, including artificial intelligence, are being used to “enhance or replace existing systems and allow for dynamic pricing, better forecasting, improved inventory management,” Suggitt tells Food Tank. During one intervention project, retailers saw an average 14.8 percent reduction in retail food waste per store by implementing artificial intelligence tools to improve forecasting and order accuracy. And low-tech programs, like employee engagement programs, can build a culture of sustainability and encourage waste reduction.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Tara Clark, Unsplash

The post West Coast Grocery Stores Seeing Drop in Unsold Food appeared first on Food Tank.

“We hope our tracker helps inform decision-makers, policymakers, and consumers,” Holly Yanai, Senior Manager of Public Affairs at Divert, tells Food Tank.

The Tracker presents a comprehensive picture of the state of food waste legislation across the United States, detailing wasted food prevention, food rescue, and food waste recycling bills in every state. It provides status updates on each bill, as well as information about organic waste bans, organic waste by-product procurement, food recovery, and date labeling.

Divert’s inspiration for the tracker came from a desire to expand their customers’ access to information. The Tracker “originally started as a way for us to build awareness with our customers on the organic waste policies that would impact their operations,” Yanai tells Food Tank.

The Food Waste Legislative Tracker is designed to be accessible and inclusive of legislation that is in the process of being developed. This feature allows stakeholders to understand policies that may affect the landscape in the future and gives them the opportunity to influence legislation.

“Having this sort of information easily accessible makes it easier for ZFWC members and other stakeholders to weigh in on pending legislation in their state and to identify innovative policies… so that they can champion similar measures in their communities,” Heather Latino, Clinical Instructor at FLPC, tells Food Tank.

In addition to increasing awareness around food waste legislation, the tracker is intended to drive progress as well. “We hope that by offering tools that allow advocates to compare the food waste policies (and proposed policies) in their state to what is happening in neighboring states that strong policies will be replicated, and weak policies can be strengthened,” Latino says.

According to Feeding America, people in the U.S. waste 92 billion pounds of food each year, which is equivalent to 145 billion meals. 38 percent of all the food in America is unsold or uneaten, and 51.7 percent of this waste comes from the food industry.

In the long term, the creators of the Food Waste Legislative Tracker hope that this tool will help reduce food waste and empower stakeholders across the food system. “We’re still a long way from the national goal of reducing food waste 50 percent by the year 2030,” Latino tells Food Tank. “Our hope is that as we bring more organizations into this work, that we’ll be able to accelerate progress towards this benchmark.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Foerster, Unsplash

The post New Food Waste Legislative Tracker Launched for U.S. Bills appeared first on Food Tank.

California’s Assembly Bill 660 helps consumers better understand the shelf-life of their food by allowing just two categories. “Best if used (or frozen) by” will indicate peak food quality, and “use (or freeze) by” will indicate food safety. For smaller products where space is a concern, labels can read “BB” or “UB.” Manufacturers and grocery stores can still use coded “sell by” dates to ensure product rotation on the shelves, but the words “sell by” cannot appear on the label. Additionally, “packed on” dates are allowed if they are accompanied by either a “best if used by” or “use by” date.

Confusion over date labels accounts for around 7 percent of consumer food waste in the United States, according to ReFED. And a study published in Waste Management finds that 84 percent of respondents throw out food that is near its labeled date “at least occasionally”.

“The passage of California’s food date labeling law, which was co-sponsored by NRDC, is an important step toward reducing food waste by promoting simpler and easily recognizable food date labels to help consumers, retailers, and manufacturers safely maximize the lifecycle of their food,” Madeline Keating, Senior Advocate for Food Waste at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), tells Food Tank.

The law, which takes effect on July 1, 2026, consolidates over 50 different terminologies that packaged foods display.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends the use of the “best if used by” and “use by” wording, and California has encouraged the voluntary adoption of these terms since AB 954 passed in 2017. AB 660 changes the suggestion to a mandatory requirement.

While California leads the nation with this policy, it is not a new idea. A 2013 report from the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and NRDC advocates for the elimination of consumer facing “sell by” dates, and for clear, standardized labeling. The federal government is considering bills on date standards for food, but the U.S. remains without federal guidelines.

A number of organizations, including NRDC and the Zero Food Waste Coalition, are calling on Congress to establish national standards by passing the Food Date Labeling Act, but it has not moved forward. “In the House of Representatives there are 41 co-sponsors on a bill to standardize date labels…I think it takes a while on these bigger issues, especially if you’re trying to go through Congress, because there’s a lot of other pressing things they can’t get done,” says Emily Broad Leib, Founding Director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic.

Food waste experts believe that California’s action could provide the momentum the federal government needs. “By being the first in the nation to pass this kind of legislation, California sets a clear precedent for similar legislation at the federal level,” says Keating.

Many countries already employ the simple labeling system that California is implementing. And according to Broad Leib, there is hope for national change. “We’re really an outlier in not taking action on this, but with California right now setting the stage—and they separately passed a resolution calling on Congress to do this too—I feel optimistic.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Shannon VanDenHeuvel, Unsplash

The post California Bans ‘Sell By’ Dates to Simplify Labels and Cut Food Waste appeared first on Food Tank.