Health&Wellness Magazine July 2015 | Page 18

18 & July 2015 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net | bananas for 29 cents a pound; and canned vegetables selling two for $1. The Daily Table’s stock is donated by food wholesalers and markets. The store also sells prepared meals on a rotating menu. The recipes change daily Combatting Food Waste Innovative ad campaign promotes ‘ugly’ produce By Angela S. Hoover, Staff Writer As policy makers, agricultural corporations and farmers fret about food shortages and starvation, the world throws away 1.3 billion tons of food annually. In the United States alone, nearly half of all food goes uneaten and is thrown into landfills. This is not rotten food – it is food that is still healthy to eat and/or is “ugly” and not aesthetically perfect. But two grocery stores on two continents are combating food waste, and one country has made it illegal for grocery stores to waste food. A new nonprofit grocery store, The Daily Table, opened in Boston this June. The Daily Table sells surplus and aging food at a steep discount. The founder, Doug Rauch, is a former Trader Joe’s president who became frustrated by the amount of nutritious food that went into Trader Joe’s dumpsters because the food was nearing its sell-by date. Some of the discounts at The Daily Table for food that needs to be eaten quickly include a dozen eggs for 99 cents; potatoes for 49 cents a pound; Kentucky’s Leading Hair Replacement Facility • Genetic Hair Loss • Chemotherapy • Alopecia • Cosmetic Hair Replacement 859.263.9811 Hair Institute offers several surgical and non-surgical hair restoration options, including Virtual Reality®, full and partial prostheses, hand-knotted wigs, and human hair extensions. - Laser Light Hair Therapy - Surgical Hair Restoration Options - Full Cranial Vacuum Prostheses - Enhancements and Integrations 1795 Alysheba Way Suite 7101 Lexington, Kentucky 40509 www.hairinstitutelexington.com @healthykentucky In the United States alone, nearly half of all food goes uneaten and is thrown into landfills. HAIR REPLACEMENT • HAIR RESTORATION • HAIR EXTENSIONS Professional • Confidential • Meticulous AMERICAN HAIR LOSS COUNCIL because the donations change every day. Rauch is hoping to expand the model to other cities across the country. In France, the country’s third largest supermarket chain, Intermarché, launched a campaign in 2014 called “Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables: A Glorious Fight Against Food Waste” to celebrate ugly and misshapen produce that grocers often throw away. Intermarch saves these fruits and vegetables from the trash by giving them their own aisle and selling them at a 30-percent discount. The campaign features seven clever poster ads starring the grotesque apple, the failed lemon, the disfigured eggplant and the unfortunate clementine. Messages on the posters say: “The Ugly Carrot In A Soup – Who Cares?” and “A Hideous Orange Makes Beautiful Juice” and “The Ridiculous Potato: Like us Voted Miss Mashed Potato 2014.” Initially, the ugly produce wasn’t selling well despite the special aisle, the “strange but lovable” advertising campaign and 30-percent discount. Undaunted, the chain made soups and juices for customers to try, proving ugly produce was just as flavorful as its prettier counterparts. This move finally allowed customers to get past the “ugliness,” and all stocks of the ugly produce sold out in an initial rush. The supermarket traffic had an overall increase of 24 percent. The chain now sees an average of 1.2 tons of ugly produce sold in its stores. In May, the French parliament unanimously approved a new law that prohibits large supermarkets from throwing out unsold food. The law mandates that these stores must donate any surplus groceries to charities or for animal feed use. A part of a more general energy and environmental bill, this law will eliminate the country’s 30 kilos of wasted food per person annually. The new regulations also ban the common practice of intentionally destroying unsold food by bleaching it to prevent people from searching for food in dumpsters. The local politician who initiated the new law, Arash Derambarsh, will take his campaign to a United Nations summit on poverty this November in the hopes other countries will adopt similar legislature. The parliament acknowledges this mandate will not fully solve the problem, so the law also introduces an education program about food waste in schools and businesses. It also removes the best-before dates on fresh food. France aims to halve the amount of its food waste – currently 7.1 tons annually – by 2025, for a national saving of up to 20 billion euros. Of the 7.1 tons, 67 percent is thrown out by consumers, 15 percent by restaurants and 11 percent by stores. In addition to feeding the poor and hungry, reducing food waste also reduces CO2 emissions. For example, the United Kingdom threw away 7 million tons of food in 2012, which is associated with 17 million tons of CO2 emissions. ®