Food waste around the world is endemic in proportion. Here in the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that 30-40 percent of the U.S. food supply is wasted with 31 percent food loss at the retail and consumer levels. This is the equivalent of 133 billion pounds of food and $161 billion in costs (a 2010 figure). Food waste occurs for many reasons and at all levels of the food supply chain from manufacturing issues to the consumer household.
The number is clearly significant and such loss has huge societal impacts. USDA estimates that more than 38 million people experienced hunger in 2020. Channeling once wasted food in the direction of families in need could significantly reduce this number. Further, the costs of discarding wasted food taxes the economy and impacts the environment (discarded packaging, raw materials the production and its byproducts) all contribute to climate change.
The USDA has created a hierarchy of uses for wasted food, reprinted below, referred to as the Food Recovery Hierarchy. The hierarchy establishes the best uses for wasted food.
This blog is not about product endorsement. It is however, about endorsing a socially conscious and environmentally forward manufacturing process and introducing participants in the alcohol beverage marketplace that are helping to bring attention to food waste policy and environmental issues.
Manufactured by a Craft Distillery in San Diego California, Misadventure Vodka advertises itself as the world’s first carbon negative consumer good that is made from discarded baked goods. The company’s website states that every drink of Misadventure takes a stand against food waste and growing landfills in the United States. As part of its manufacturing process, the company collects discarded bread and other baked goods from the community and uses them to create the fermentable matter necessary for alcoholic beverage.
Across the Atlantic and on the malt side, Toast Beer from the United Kingdom uses surplus bread in its production process. Stale bread, unfit for consumption is collected where available and rather than being discarded is used to produce a variety of beer styles.
Alcohol production in general requires the use of some grain or other fermentable product. The alcohol industry as a whole, some argue, uses large quantities of grain and other foodstuffs decreasing availability and driving up costs of raw good used in the production of food for human consumption. The use of repurposed food in alcohol production could impact the availability of grains and similar ingredients, reducing their costs and ultimately reducing finished product food costs. Logically, decrease costs could lead to more food on the tables of those in need. Taken individually, the impact on the reduction on food waste by these innovators is de minimis. Collectively, however, alcohol beverage producers can contribute significantly to the problem of food waste, cost and hunger through innovative production methods and a unified effort. An idea this writer endorses.
