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One of the greatest producers of food waste in North America is grocery stores. Stores throw away tons of edible food every single day. When food nears the expiration date printed on their labels, stores are required to throw the food away. Over 40% of food produced in Canada ends up in landfills, and the United States wastes over 13 billion pounds of food a year.
What started as a “Feed Families” program has turned into an entire store. So many people were requesting these donated meals, that the organizers were inspired to expand the movement even further.
Toronto based store Feed it Forward saves anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds of groceries each day. The donated food comes from grocery stores that can no longer sell the food for various reasons.
The fruit and vegetables may be a little soft or wrinkled, but they are completely edible. The other products are nearing their expiration dates, which makes it illegal for grocery stores to sell them, but they are still completely safe to eat.
Customers at Feed it Forward pay as much or as little as they can afford. Some customers pay for others’ groceries, “paying it forward,” while some people don’t pay anything at all and can still leave with enough food for the day. They may only take enough for the day in order to assure enough stock for everyone who needs.
While billions of pounds of food are being wasted every year in America, 41 million Americans are going hungry. The Feed it Forward grocery store is just one step in a series of projects to fight world hunger and food waste. We hope that this movement will spread, bringing an end to world hunger and cut down on waste around the globe.
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