EPA Administrator Applauds Efforts to Feed the Hungry While Protecting the Planet
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy recently visited Philadelphia to recognize
Brown’s ShopRite store in West Philadelphia and Drexel University’s
Culinary Arts & Food Science Program for developing a new way to help
the environment and feed hungry people.
Both Brown’s ShopRite and Drexel University are partners in EPA’s
Food Recovery Challenge.
“Through EPA's Food Recovery Challenge, we're able to partner
with private sector businesses, nonprofits and other entities to not only
help reduce the amount of food in landfills and combat climate change,
but help businesses save money on waste disposal,” said EPA Administrator
Gina McCarthy. “The Brown’s ShopRite and Drexel University
Food Lab pilot program is a great example of an innovative solution to
encourage food recovery, while providing nourishing meals for the hungry."
In the past the produce department at Brown’s ShopRite stores routinely
threw away the less attractive or bruised vegetables and fruits that couldn’t
be sold, but were still nutritious. Those fruits and vegetables ended
up in landfills where they rapidly decomposed and produced methane, a
powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
Now, Drexel University Food Lab students majoring in culinary arts, culinary
science and hospitality management, visit Brown’s ShopRite, collect
the still usable fruits and vegetables, and experiment until they have
turned the bounty into recipes that are nutritious and easy to prepare.
Some of the recipes include fruit cobbler, strawberry jam, dried tomatoes,
and stir-fried greens.
The students than turn the recipes over to shelters and other emergency
food providers where staff use them to feed people in need.
Dr. Jonathan Deutsch, professor of Culinary Arts and Food Science at Drexel
University, and founder of the Drexel Food Lab says, “Our commitment
in the Center for Hospitality and Sport Management at Drexel is to provide
students an unparalleled experience to prepare the next generation of
responsible industry leaders. This food recovery project allows our students
to solve real world problems, do good for others, and do good for the
environment, while building professional and interpersonal skills that
will prepare our students for careers. It’s exactly the type of
work we should be doing.”
“Since Browns began our partnership with Organic Diversions and
Philabundance and joined the EPA Food Recovery Challenge in late 2012
we have shown continued improvement in our recycling efforts,” said
David Deets, director of Store Development and Sustainability for Brown’s
ShopRite. “We have diverted more than 2,500 tons of food waste to
a local composting facility. Our stores have worked with local food service
organizations to donate over 580 tons of fresh food which has been used
to feed over 1, 175,000 meals to needy families. Our diversion efforts
have helped us reduce our trash to landfills by 65 percent since 2012.”
Surplus food is one of the largest types of materials sent to landfills.
While much of it is actually edible, wholesome food that could potentially
feed millions of Americans, only three percent is currently being diverted
for this purpose.
Through its Food Recovery Challenge, EPA encourages organizations to reduce,
donate, and recycle as much of their excess food as possible, which saves
money, feeds the needy, and helps protect the environment.
The Drexel Food Lab, in partnership with EPA and Brown’s Shop Rite,
has developed a series of low-cost, easy recipes to make surplus foods
tasty and easily prepared as an attractive alternative to composting or,
worse, sending it to a landfill. Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
awarded the Food Lab, and its partner, The Enterprise Center, a Local
Foods Promotion Program Planning Grant to explore the commercial viability
of the new pilot program.
As a participant in the Food Recovery Challenge, Brown's ShopRite
works with EPA to track waste generation and reduction, including changes
in purchasing, food donations, and composting.
For more information about food waste:
EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge:
www.epa.gov/smm/foodrecovery/index.htm
To view EPA’s Food Recovery video, go to;
http://youtu.be/EwNpnUUSk4M
The video features several businesses donating food to homeless shelters
and for composting.