FA grad working to reduce food waste

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    SANGERVILLE — In the U.S. around 40 percent of all edible food is wasted. If this amount was cut by 15 percent then an estimated 25 million people in the country could be fed, while also lowering the amount of water and energy used in producing food that ends up being uneaten.

    Reducing food waste was the topic of a presentation by Food Shift Founder and Director Dana Frasz, a 2001 graduate of Foxcroft Academy and the daughter of Dr. David Frasz and Dr. Lesley Fernow of Dover-Foxcroft, at Stutzman’s Farm Cafe on the evening of Aug. 15. Food Shift, which is based in San Francisco, works with communities, businesses and government to change behaviors toward a more sustainable use of food.
    “She’s doing this out of the West Coast and frankly we have a problem here on the East Coast,” Dr. Fernow said before introducing her daughter to attendees, many of whom were old acquaintances, gathered in the cafe. She said about 20 percent of the region’s residents live in poverty and are food insecure.
    “What we want to do is bring her knowledge and her experience here and see if there are ways we can do more,” Dr. Fernow said.
     Frasz, who arrived in the area the day before, said after graduating from Foxcroft Academy she spent time traveling around Southeast Asia. “That experience really awakened my understanding of the true meaning of food,” she said.
    College is where Frasz said “my obsession in keeping food out of the trash can began” as she formed a food recovery group on campus. Frasz said similar organizations can be found across the U.S. yet problems still exist with the estimated 40 percent of edible food being wasted and other statistics indicating around one in five children in the U.S. does not have enough to eat — with this figure likely being greater elsewhere in the world.
    Frasz said considering the environmental component of reducing food waste “is when I get even more excited about it.” She explained, “Each time we throw away food we are throwing away all of the resources,” such as the water and energy used in the production, fuel for shipping, etc.
    About $165 billion is spent in food waste costs, with $40 billion from households, and $750 million is expended annually in disposal costs. Frasz also said about 25 percent of all fresh water used in the U.S. ends up going toward food that is wasted.
    “We started if through education,” Frasz said about the efforts of Food Shift — which began in early 2012 — to change these statistics. Mentioning a method for individual consumers, she said, “Date labels are incredibly misleading and lead to so much waste in this country. They are arbitrary and chosen by the manufacturer.”
    She said other than baby foods, the date labels on packing are not federally regulated. Consumers can keep their items beyond the listed dates, and Frasz said they should use common sense and best judgment in determining if something can be eaten and not thrown away.
    “We have got to stop calling them expiration dates because that’s not what they are,” she said.
    Food Shift has worked to help reduce what is wasted at some of the tech companies in the Bay Area, many of which provide meals for their employees.
    Frasz said the Good Samaritan Food Act protects any food donor from liability as long as the products are being given to a non-profit. “A big part of our work is educating businesses about this because most people don’t know about this,” she said.
    An inverted pyramid projected up on the screen behind Frasz listed uses of recovered food, starting with source reduction as the most preferred option. From there the pyramid descended to feed hungry people, feed animals, industrial uses, composting and incinerator or landfill.
    Food Shift has worked with the Oakland, Calif. school system on source reduction, as now at the end of meals students can return unopened items to a “food share bin” which are then stored and redistributed. “The way it was the most cool was to see that food go back to the parents and the kids in that school system,” Frasz said.
    She said Food Shift will soon sign a contract with a California grocery chain, which will include an awareness campaign to help reduce food waste. Frasz said some examples of information being presented to customers will be “how to keep those apples freshest the longest and how to buy more responsibly.”
    Frasz said she is excited how far the issue has come, having not been on most people’s radar a few years prior. She said she is excited because, “We have the opportunity to handle so many other issues simultaneously.”
    Issues related to food waste include climate change, with items ending up in landfills and helping to create more methane gas which is 21 times more potent as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide through decomposition; as well as social justice by feeding those in need. “We have an opportunity to save resources that are dwindling in our communities,” Frasz said.
    A discussion followed the presentation, and Dr. Fernow said there are those in the area taking steps to help reduce wasted food, such as Sid and Rainie Stutzman of Stutzman’s Farm.
    “A lot of our employees benefit from our food waste,” Rainie Stutzman said. She mentioned food items being used to feed pigs “and therefore they are not buying a lot of grain for their pigs.” Stutzman said when possible they donate to area food cupboards to help feed hungry residents.
    The farm also grows vegetables for senior citizens through the “Adopt a Senior” program, which feeds about 600.
    Dr. Frasz mentioned how Will’s Shop ‘n Save in Dover-Foxcroft has no dumpsters, instead arranging to have all unsold food be redistributed. “So that is possible to do,” he said.
    The younger Frasz was asked about how Food Shift handles the issue of nutritious vs. non-nutritious foods in the organization’s work. “It is our preference to work with partners who have good quality food,” she said, as Food Shift is developing an implementation guide for schools.
    “In my mind capturing a truckload of Twinkies or Doritos is not as high a priority as capturing a truckload of good food,” Frasz said.
    For more information on Food Shift, please go to www.foodshift.net or www.facebook.com/foodshift.