Food waste is a serous issue. According to a recent USDA study, we produce enough food for 860 million people, and waste 133 billion pounds a year - that's enough to fill the 90,000-seat Rose Bowl stadium once every day. One of the key contributors to this issue, wasting 5.4 billion pounds of food a year, are the retailers. The many restaurants, hotels and supermarkets in the US throw away so much edible food because of their strict cosmetic requirements (Standard example here where anything below No.1 can sell for up to two-thirds of market value) or because they are no longer fresh, while 1 in 7 American households has trouble putting food on the table (according to a recent USDA report). France has recently passed a law which makes it illegal for supermarkets to throw away their edible leftovers and obliges them to donate them to a charity instead. The European Union and Canada are also being pushed in the direction. Considering all the hunger and waste here alone, you would expect the USA to be leading the global fight against this issue.

Besides ignoring millions of starving American families, the food they throw away is dumped into landfills where it is taking a huge toll on the environment. Food waste is the largest component send to American landfills(This PBS NEWSHOUR clip illustrates the issue.). While producing over 290 billion pounds of greenhouse gases annually, it is especially a significant source of methane, which is a gas with 21 times the global warming potential of Carbon dioxide. A United Nations study in 2013 determined that if wasted food were a country, it would be the third-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Besides massive amounts of emissions, the leakage of a large number of the toxins into waterways ends up in the water we use everyday and since the landfills are usually around large bodies of fresh water, this pollution goes undetected. It is obviously also very harmful to plants and animals.

We waste other precious resources to produce this squandered food, including our land, soil fertility, oil, human labor and about 25% of our entire fresh water supply.

As businesses are not charities, they should be given incentives to donate their leftovers. Larger business like Wal-Mart and Kroger get tax breaks and have partnerships with with many organizations like Food Finders and Feeding America who manage the donation process, while the same tax break is not permanent for smaller business. Since Congress has to keep renewing the tax break, smaller family businesses may not know if they will get the tax break which can discourage them from donating. The attempt to fix this absurd system, the "Fighting Hunger Incentive Act of 2015" passed the House, but after many rounds of editing, the Senate passed the bill as the "Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015" which now concerned border control and US-Israeli relations. It is clear that we need to establish the same permanent tax break (already given to larger business) for smaller businesses.

Some food vendors cooperate  by donating some conserved foods in cans, while dumping their perishable vegetables, meats and fruits that the hungry would need the most. Although gleaning is an ancient idea documented as far back as the Old Testament and would provide the hungry with nutritious and high-quality food, most restaurants, grocery stores and hotels refuse to participate in donating from their fear of being liable for the food. However, the Bill Emerson Federal Good Samaritan Food Donation Act in 1996 protects donors from any liability should anyone become ill from a food donation.

Reducing food waste by just 15% would be enough to feed more than 25 million Americans every year, and would also reduce the price of food in America and worldwide according to a report from researchers at USDA's Economic Research Service, Jean Buzby, Hodan Wells and Jeffrey Hyman; benefiting us all.

Like unemployment and healthcare, this is a major social matter, yet it has a clear and possible solution.

We need to protect and appreciate the resourced of our blessed country. Please join me in doing the right thing by stopping this senseless waste and feeding millions of hungry people. This is an preposterous issue that can be ended with your help.