Just in time inventory. If the trucks ever stop running, this country is screwed….or more screwed.
Sour grapes El Pablum?
Not at all, then you will understand the opportunity costs.
I'm a tucker fan but I believe this is a bit out of context. Compared to what the average Russian brings home a month I believe they spend 60% of it on food. So while they spend less than us they make a lot less
I agree to a point, but the price of the food is the price of the food. That has nothing to do with what a Russian or American make.
Yeah, I mean it's not like most of the food companies are posting record profits right now or anything.
Food companies have historically low profit margins because of spoilage and transportation costs.
My son worked the produce area of a grocery store during his high school years. The amount of food thrown into the dumpsters daily would shock some.
I'm always more shocked it doesn't get donated to people in need. But I guess I'm just a bleeding heart that hates wasting resources. But if they gave away all those "best by" and other "expired" food, it wouldn't contribute to their margins
The government regulations don't allow it, or it's so close to being rotten that nobody in any shelter concerned for those they are feeding will take it. Pig farmers will though.
Stores dump it at lower prices as it's approaching the expiration date to move it and make room for more and because consumers are misinformed about what that date actually means. The post office is ignorant as well.
It's interesting to note that when the post office has their food drive, they collect all the donated food, and then inspect the expiration dates. If one day over the date, the food is trashed.
The FDA says that the expiration date is only when it will lose it's peak for taste. After that it can decline but be perfectly safe to eat for years after if properly stored.
One exception by law is baby food.
Millions of tons of food is wasted annually by people looking at those expiration dates on canned food and tossing them the day after.
How dumb can people be that do that? It's common sense that food does not go from good to bad in one day, or a week or a month after that date. It boggles my mind that people think that way.
I'll post a link from NBC so you will believe me.
These dates, however, are far from a hard stop. In fact, it’s not illegal for stores to sell canned foods months or even years past these dates. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, canned contents are safe to eat as long as the can is in “good shape.” The Canned Food Alliance agrees, citing 100-year-old canned food that was recovered from sunken ships and tested microbiologically safe.
Does that mean you can eat food out of a can found on the Titanic? Yes. Does it mean you’ll want to? Probably not.
Taste, texture and nutritional value are all negatively affected as the contents inside a can age. Still, it can take years to notice anything funky or "off." According to the Canned Food Alliance, canned food stored in moderate temperatures (75 F or below) has a shelf life of about two years from the date it was processed. After that, you can expect the quality — first the color and texture — to change; however, the nutritional value can last “well beyond two years.” In terms of edibility, canned food is playing the long game. In fact, most experts don't believe in expiration dates.
https://www.today.com/food/when-do-canned-foods-really-expire-t119977
Edited to add info:
Not disagreeing. I think it's a mistake that there's little consumer education around dates and what they mean, and also a mistake the the FDA has allowed the industry to "self regulate". That self regulation has led to the situation we're in where people don't understand these concepts, and it helps them because the more people throw away viable product the more they buy replacement product to keep money flowing.
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