In recognition of Earth Week, CDFA is spotlighting its Food Recovery webpage, dedicated to reducing food waste.
The USDA reports that 30-40 percent of the U.S. food supply turns to food waste. CalRecycle reports that Californians discards 5-6 million tons of food every year.
The Food Recovery Hierarchy (right) and CDFA programs help consumers as well as farmers and ranchers reduce food waste through recycling and reuse, resulting in more food for people, feed for animals, and a series of additional uses beneficial to the environment.
There are several examples of agency programs that reflect the values of the hierarchy.
The Office of Agricultural Resilience and Sustainability (OARS), through its Healthy Soils Program, offers grants for activities like the mulching of almond shells to help reduce the evaporation of surface water while building highly-coveted organic matter in soil.
CDFA’s Rendering Program oversees the re-use of inedible kitchen grease for an array of products, including biofuel, soaps, cosmetics, shampoos, and feed for the livestock, poultry and pets.
And the agency’s Commercial Feed Regulatory Program offers an incentivized tax rate for commercial feed producers that upcycle human food byproducts to animal feed within California’s livestock feed industry.
The reduction of food waste is a serious worldwide concern, and CDFA is committed to contributing to the effort.