Who Wastes the Most Food in America?

At 73 kg of food wasted per capita and year, the United States is close to the high income country average calculated by the United Nations. A survey by Gallup and Mitre shows that using leftovers, making shopping lists and being knowledgeable about expiry dates play a crucial role in avoiding food waste at the household level - which is where 60 percent of it occurs.

In the U.S., people with only a high school education were less likely to waste food than those holding a college degree. The relationship is inverted for food waste and household income, with those earning more also wasting more. Another factor in avoiding food waste was being mindful of portion sizes while preparing food, as those who watched sizes wasted less.

More important to the amount of food waste a household produced was its relationship with leftovers, however, as those rejecting leftovers and those sceptical of their edibility wasted up to twice as much food as the U.S. average. Rarely sticking to a shopping list as well as discarding all expired foods without checking resulted in around 50 percent more food waste on the household level.