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Americans Waste $240 Billion in Food Each Year

The average U.S. household fritters away nearly $2,000 in food annually, a new study suggests.

By  Gaby Galvin , Staff Writer Jan. 23, 2020, at 11:36 a.m.

More than two-thirds of U.S. households waste between 20% and 50% of their food, new estimates show. (MATJAZ SLANIC/GETTY IMAGES)

THE AVERAGE AMERICAN household wastes about 30% of the food it buys, new research suggests.

Food waste happens at every stage of the supply chain, but researchers from  Penn State University  sought to measure exactly how much food goes uneaten, spoiled or otherwise wasted in households across the U.S. The  new estimates , published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, suggest households with the average level of food waste could be losing about $1,866 per year – translating to $240 billion in wasted food nationally.

Even the least-wasteful households wasted 8.7% of their food, the estimates show, while more than two-thirds of households wasted between 20% and 50%.

The findings mean "resources used to produce the uneaten food, including land, energy, water and labor, are wasted as well," study author Edward Jaenicke, a professor of agricultural economics at Penn State,  said in a statement.

The new estimates are in line with previous research indicating 30% to 40% of the overall U.S. food supply is wasted. Curbing food waste in the U.S. would help feed families in need and lead to more efficient use of land and water resources, according to the  Department of Agriculture . In 2015, the federal government set a goal to reduce food waste  by 50% by 2030 .

For the new study, researchers used household demographics, measures like weight and height, and USDA food-acquisition data, as well as information about household members' physical activity. They found higher-income households and those who ate more fruits and vegetables as part of a healthier diet wasted more food, on average, while bigger households, households that were more  food-insecure  and those in public food-assistance programs – such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – were less likely to waste food.

The findings suggest some public food-assistance programs may overlook the "hidden costs of food waste," the study said.

"It's possible that programs encouraging healthy diets may unintentionally lead to more waste," Jaenicke said. "That may be something to think about from a policy perspective – how can we fine-tune these programs to reduce potential waste."

Researchers said that because they focused on "edible portions of food" in the analysis, their estimates "directly correspond to avoidable food waste," and could help inform future research.

"While the precise measurement of food waste is important, it may be equally important to investigate further how household-specific factors influence how much food is wasted," Jaenicke said. "We hope our methodology provides a new lens through which to analyze individual household food waste."