The Great British Waste Menu Highlights Shocking Amounts of Food Waste
Tonight the BBC did a variation of the Great British Menu series with the Great British Waste Menu. The chefs had to source their produce from supermarket bins, markets and scrap that food producers throw out. The trailers with Michelin star chefs dump diving did not not make this a must watch program. They got Richard Corrigan, Angela Hartnet, Matt Tebbutt and Simon Rimmer to cook the first round from the food that they found. The winners then went on to cook a banquet for 60 people from even more waste food. Sounds impossible? It was ridiculously easy. You can watch it here.
The shocking things that this program highlighted were:
- how much perfectly edible food the supermarkets chuck out because the packaging is dented or it’s reached the sell by date. (I know that the bigger chains sell on meat past the shelf date to smaller chains who repackage it and sell it with a different date.)
- the amount of fruit and veg that producers reject because the supermarkets don’t want them because they are too small or too large. I personally don’t mind misshapen fruit and veg as it is natural
- the amount of meat and offal that gets discarded because people are squeamish about the idea of offal
- fish that is wasted because it is not cod
- eggs that can’t be sold because they are too small – ridiculous
Come on, in this economy when everyone is complaining about rising costs, the food bill can be massively reduced if some of this wasted food can get to consumers. There are some charities who redistribute this food but I think they are hardly making a dent in the mountain of waste.
Why can’t supermarkets put this stuff on a cheap aisle. Might lower their margins per square foot, but lots of brownie points. Win win there isn’t it?
As for the fruit and veg farms, why can’t they sell them locally and let people know that they can get this stuff cheaper than at supermarkets and they don’t have to plough them back into the ground. As for the offal, there must be a way to encourage people to buy and make some creative recipes from this.
What the programme didn’t really address is how they should tackle this. Getting the average person to not throw out food that they bought from supermarkets will hardly make a difference.
Someone needs to apply some common sense here. I feel a campaign coming on.
On-line campaign (bearing in mind I’ve yet to see the programme but will do tonight), some questions / ideas & thoughts btw I’ve never done this before:
1) Get the programme presenters to support &/or Jamie Oliver & HughF-W. Reason – need some heavyweight influencers.
2) How do we get the public/consumer to buy fresh quality – & ignoring shape / size issues.
3) Sell buy dates (get rid of them) – who are these for really (usually for the store staff so that stock rotation is maintained)? Can an adult really not tell if something is past its best?
4) What does value really mean? Is it cheap (a £1 or 2 for £2 – so you buy too much & throw it away) or is it how many uses can I get out of the product e.g., a whole chicken how many meals can that serve?
5) Throw away culture – this really has to change, what I’ve done in my own home (as a way of learning) is introduce 3 bins one for recycling, one for food waste only, and the other for general waste.
6) Plenty of local groups promoting local produce & food – they need to join the campaign too.
7) Uping the anti-on home (UK) produced food, this should be stocked first everytime – almost by right of passage, if the quality is poor then it won’t sell anyway. We should, as a nation, be proud of our fresh produce & fresh food industries & support.
8) Not necessarily going back to the past, but certainly we should be advocating baking, preserving and general cooking for a better and healthier lifestyle.
9) Get a proper FOOD retailer to support this as well.
Well there are my thoughts so far – I’ve not really touched the packaging issue (which there is one) – and if I think or come up with any more once I’ve seen the programme I’ll let you know. I am really passionate about fresh produce and our growers and will help as much as I can.
Well done on the blog – and I’ll be in touch, kr Carol
For a long time I have been wanting to open a shop that in every way looks like the ‘big 4 supermarket’ but has zero waste at its core.
Im not ‘that’ old and as a child lived in the east end of london. We had no fridge/washing machine/bathroom. I was taught to use my eyes, nose and touch to tell if food was safe! At secondary school I was taught how to make soup/stock/cake/pies/sweets/bottling and preserving from scratch.
My daughter on the other hand,was not. cookery was how to microwave and how industry makes convienience food.
I’m not sure where to begin! Im half way through my business plan but have no funds! Sieving throught the legistlation is a nightmare! There are many challenges to face befor getting something like this off the ground!
My daughter watched the programme with me last night and from her comments I realized she has been brain washed by the supermarkets. They have spend 20 or so years sanitizing food, only allowing us to buy uniform, unblemished, unseasonal, pre-packed food.
You need to cook in store and have tasters, sell the food with a recipe, and educate how to freeze that little bit of stuff till you have enought for the pudding/smoothie/jam.
We need to join forces! even boyccot the supermarkets that didnt turn up (I was shocked re sainsbury’s!)
Something has to be done now!
I couldn’t believe how much was getting thrown away. Personally I always try to use all the contents of my fridge, but it was scary how much was thrown away by farms because it wasn’t perfect according to someone! I agree if these places sold that stuff on people would buy it, I would! Let’s hope things change.
It’s shocking, isn’t it? My take on the situation is that people don’t know any better, hence the supermarkets can drive mindsets in a way. Which is sad. So many people rely on ready meals and really don’t know how to cook, that they wouldn’t have a clue what to do with leftovers for example. So the food goes to waste. And because so many people are so removed from the producers, they’re brought up thinking that every pepper must be the same shape and size, so when confronted with a small slightly misshapen one they think something is wrong.
For me I think getting some proper food education back into the school system would help. I see a Jamie Oliver style cause here… or perhaps he’s already on it?
At last a programme about food waste which has really got people talking. However, like you have all pointed out there is a huge amount to do to change the public’s ingrained habits. I am constantly dismayed the growing lack of respect for food, we’ve had it too easy for too long and it’s about time we valued our food and got the most out of it. I’m right behind you with a campaign and have come up with some thoughts myself on my own blog, it’d be fabulous if you could give me your feedback http://www.countonit.co.uk/blog
Let the campaign begin!
Dear author et al…
May I introduce you to the campaign group “This is Rubbish”.
The primary aim of This Is Rubbish is to educate people about the scale of food waste in the UK, and to emphasise the fact that reducing this waste is the joint responsibility of people and companies.
Less than 40% of UK food waste is produced by households. We are solutions driven, and offer community focused food waste redistribution solutions to the food industry.
We want to see all retailers obliged to report on the food waste they generate in their activities, with annual reports audited and publicised by an independent commission.
We want the government to introduce an obligation upon retailers to reduce food waste.
GIve our website a visit at:
http://www.thisisrubbish.org.uk/
or contact:
info(at)thisisrubbish.org.uk
FoodCycle’s volunteers make organised collections of surplus, unsold produce from retailers and farmers markets (not skipped, but collected before it is!) and turn them into meals for those who need them.
http://www.foodcycle.org.uk
From what I hear, and it is by no means the only explanation around, supermarkets would rather throw useable, short-dated food out than sell it cheaply because they don’t want consumers to get into the habit of waiting for and expecting reductions and thereby creating downward price pressures.
There is certain a massive lack of knowledge in how to use food up and making the absolute most of it. It’s not just doing it ad hoc, but a whole system of technique, organisation and forward planning.
I think the public are unaware of how big the problem is .It takes people like Hugh to make us all sit up and take notice .Keep up the good work
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