Reducing waste
I admit it. I have never really considered what happens to foodstuffs that are considered to be surplus. Past date if you will. Almost everything in the modern supermarket has the best before date. When that date is reached someone on staff is given the task of disposing of the food stuffs. We can think of the easy ones. A banana that has gone black. Bread that has to be reduced in sale price. And meat I guess. But almost everything else in the fruit stuff produce section or anything else that comes with a date must be handled with care. This morning I watched a news story about how a food bank handles the surplus they receive. That is one way that stores have found to get rid of their problem of what to do with the leftovers. In this case tons of avocados that were judged to be just a bit too small to sell. The staff had a great idea. They found a source of chips and then they offered their clients a recipe to make guacamole. Nothing wasted and nothing gained except perhaps some new clients for the chips. I have no idea what that means in terms of quantity but the article did mention that they had tons of fruit that needed to be disposed of. Someone swallows the cost. Probably less than we think because the whole idea of retail is to pay less for what you get and receive more for what you sell. Even avocados. Take a few moments to think about the different quantities that the average supermarket has to handle on a daily basis. A certain amount goes to waste. There is probably someone on staff whose task is to reduce waste to an acceptable level. Nothing is wasted if you can find someone else to take your product. Even at a perceived loss. For the store they just write that back into their financials and for those that frequent the food bank they may get a better quality meal then that box of dried pasta.
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