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1 Introduction and Background
Pages 1-11

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From page 1...
... to get an estimate of the amount of the 1This background information comes from three sources: the presentation of Mary Bohman, administrator of the Economic Research Service, in the introductory session of the workshop; the presentation of Mary Muth, RTI International and chair of the steering committee that organized the workshop, in the introductory session of the workshop; and the Request for Proposal prepared by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of the contract for convening the workshop.
From page 2...
... • Quantities/year • Loss-adjusted servings/day • Nutrients from major • Amount of food loss at the food groups retail and customer levels Source: USDA, Economic Research Service http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-(per-capita) -data-system.aspx FIGURE 1-1  Food Availability Data System.
From page 3...
... While ERS developed LAFA to monitor food intake and diet quality, the food loss estimates have been used to inform the discussion of food loss, food waste, recovery, and gleaning. Using the LAFA data, ERS researchers calculated that at the retail and consumer levels, an estimated 133 billion pounds, or 31 percent of the 430 billion pounds of food available for human consumption in the United States in 2010, were losses and were not eaten in that year.
From page 4...
... billion pounds of the available food supply Food loss includes: at the retail and consumer levels went ■ loss from mold, pests, or inadequate climate control; uneaten, with an estimated retail value of ■ cooking loss and natural shrinkage $162 BILLION. (e.g., moisture loss)
From page 5...
... MEAT EXAMPLE: Beef Loss Along the Farm-to-Fork Chain Farm to Retail Retail Consumer ■ Damage from packaging ■ Packaging failure ■ Inadequate storage failure ■ Culling for unappealing ■ Spoilage ■ Cold storage malfunction color changes Uneaten ■ Overpreparing (e.g., ■ Spoilage ■ Overstocking ground cooking too many Food beef due to difficulty hamburgers at a BBQ) ■ Rejection FIGURE 1-2 Continued of meat for predicting consumer 5 food safety reasons (e.g., ■ Recalls for food safety demand pathogen contamination)
From page 6...
... ■ Rejection of meat for predicting consumer food safety reasons (e.g., ■ Recalls for food safety demand pathogen contamination) concerns ■ Spoilage ■ Plate waste ■ Confusion about use-by or sell-by dates What Are the Considerations and Incentives How Much Could Be Reduced?
From page 7...
... Source: USDA's Economic Research Service (http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-(per-capita) -data-system.aspx)
From page 8...
... the amount lost at the farm and the farm-to-retail levels in the United States for each of the commodities in the LAFA data series; (2) updated retail-level loss estimates for select commodities in the LAFA data series (i.e., dairy, added fats and oils, added sugars and sweeteners, grains, nuts, eggs, and fruits and vegetables in forms other than fresh, such as frozen or canned)
From page 9...
... The statement of task for the steering committee that planned the workshop is as follows: An ad hoc steering committee will organize a public workshop, se lect and invite speakers and discussants, and moderate discussions on data and estimation issues for the food availability system of estimates developed and regularly published by the Economic Research Service (ERS)
From page 10...
... Issues for the workshop to consider include: the effects of termination of selected Census Bureau and USDA data series on esti mates for affected food groups and commodities; the potential for using other data sources, such as scanner data, to improve estimates of food availability; and possible ways to improve the data on food loss at the farm and retail levels and at restaurants. For each topic, the workshop will consider what are the most important knowledge gaps, what data sources may be available or could be generated to fill gaps, what can be learned from other countries and international organizations, ways to ensure consistency of treatment of commodities across series, and the most promising opportunities for new data for the various food avail ability series.
From page 11...
... • Are commodities and commodity groups treated the same within the FA and the LAFA data series? • What are the most promising opportunities in terms of new data for the FA data series, the LAFA data series, or the associated food loss estimates?


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