Wasteful Brits: Throw away 1/3 of all Food

reply to post by The Godfather of Conspira


You are obviously ignorant on the subject of polling and how it works and why it only requires a small sample size, so here you go. Educate yourself on the subject and then get back to us.

Meanwhile, all you're doing is "shooting the messenger".

How Polling Works

Originally posted by jsobecky
reply to post by centurion1211

 

Well, can you blame them? Ever had British food?

No, not in the UK. I've been to a few British-style pubs and restaurants here, though, and so far can only eat the "sheperds pie" (with HP sauce).

Originally posted by centurion1211
I'm going to suggest that they pass laws requiring citizens to buy and maintain refrigeration equipment for their homes - like other developed countries do.

Bahahaha . Sorry, but that is ridiculous. I don't know or have ever known anyone without a working fridge. I mean seiriously, do yo think people here don't have fridges? The good thing about your proposed law though, is how easy it would be to enforce
I'm kidding, could you tell me what you mean, as I'm sure I'm missing the point.

well as an Irishman, I have to say, it could be worse. Brits could be like Americans and eating themselves to death. America is a nation of fatties and that is a fact! Whilst Brits are becoming fatter, they6 get a bit of catching up to do!

Originally posted by wow23
well as an Irishman, I have to say, it could be worse. Brits could be like Americans and eating themselves to death. America is a nation of fatties and that is a fact! Whilst Brits are becoming fatter, they6 get a bit of catching up to do!

Really? So, How is eating all those potatoes working out for you? Still eat them right out of the fields? If you don't have a fat problem in Ireland, I'm guessing that it must be all that Irish "dancing".

Like all the irish stereotypes? If not, then knock it off yourself.

[edit on 5/9/2008 by centurion1211]

Sensationalism.

Look at how much food restaurants, bakeries, pizza joints and other food establishments throw away.

There's a whole cult of Dumpster Diving. In fact it's been rumored that some establishments (in the US?) adulterate their discarded food so the homeless won't eat it.

The amount that -individuals- discard has got to be trivial, at least on an individual level.

----
When I was a kid, everyone had compost piles. My dad was a master at it. He built an above ground pit, and regularly turned it and used the composted materials for garden fertilizer. We used to do that at my current house when we had a garden and may start that up again. The first time I did it, I produced enough composted grass clippings and waste food to cover our 20'x20' garden about one foot thick. I used a wheelbarrow to cart it over and tilled the whole garden by hand.

Unfair to single out and blame the Brits.

Perhaps this report will raise awareness, producing some good.

2 cents.

Originally posted by centurion1211

Originally posted by interestedalways
Anyway who are we to talk about waste here in the USA, sheez according to my favorite Seinfeld episode the homeless here won't even eat muffins without the tops!!!

spelling edit

[edit on 8-5-2008 by interestedalways]

Of course, you actually realize that your favorite Seinfeld episode was a sitcom and not a documentary - at least I hope you do. If you don't know the difference, then I submit that it is people that think as you do that are the real problem.

It really is important to be able to separate comedy television from reality ...

Wow, thanks for the heads up, I really thought I was watching an actual documentary. I even thought Seinfeld should run for president!!!

Ask McDonalds in the USA what they do with thier unused food. They will trash it right to the dumpster before they give it away to employees or Harvesters or homeless people. I am sure they aren't the only chains that manage that way, they are afraid the employees might cook up an extra cheeseburger and eat it so in the trash it goes.

Ha, they probably trash the third of the food that would tend to promote good dental hygiene.

The calcium rich foods perhaps.

Originally posted by wow23
well as an Irishman, I have to say, it could be worse. Brits could be like Americans and eating themselves to death. America is a nation of fatties and that is a fact! Whilst Brits are becoming fatter, they6 get a bit of catching up to do!

I have a body fat % of 9.1 at 217lbs, perhaps we shouldn't clump "all" Americans as fatties?

I have to totally agree with the person from Ireland who commented
on how America is a bunch of fatties. Just take a look around and you
will see how true this is. If the truth hurts certain folk, I don't know how
to console you.

By the way, I am from America and know firsthand of the "fattie"
condition here in the states.

And, I AM NOT being vicious or uncaring or insensitive to people who
have a weight problem due to certain health issues, or are taking
drugs that cause a person to gain a lot of weight, or other reasons
that can't be helped. I have a brother-in-law who was as skinny as
the proverbial stickman, and had a number of heart surgery bi-passes.
The drugs the doctors put him on to keep him alive caused him to
balloon up quite a bit, and quite frankly looks a little plump to say the
least. I believe he took the same drug as Jerry Lewis was on, that
caused him to gain considerable weight. This is not the type of thing
I am referring to.

You can walk down any street in America, in any city or town, in any
county, in any state, and see the same thing time and again. What is
that, you ask? I can see waves upon waves of obese, totally gross
fat slobs that are pathetically overweight.. Go to one of our wonderful
Chinese stocked WalMarts, and it is hard to get around the aisles at
times because of the tons of flesh trying to get from point A to point B.

I know this is a topic about the Brits throwing out 1/3 of their food.
The same thing happens here for the most part. When we raised our
four children, we most likely didn't throw out anything at all. After the
kids all flew the coop, my other half and I, probably DO throw out an
awful lot of food, simply because we may buy too much at times, simply doesn't get eaten, and ends up in the dumpster.

But back to the "fatties" of America. And, back to WalMart if I may. I
don't actually live there, but I am forced to shop there due to the mostly
lower prices, and the fact they have driven out all of the really good
Ma and Pa shops in town, like the SOB's have done all across this country.
Go into any Wally World and you will see these poor fat pigs driving
around the store in battery powered little go-carts. Then they go out to
their cars with the Handicapped emblem in the window or on their license
plate. They then waddle into their usually filthy dirty fat pig cars. Then an
attendant takes the cart back inside for the next whale to squash.

As you can ascertain from my soap box delivery, I have absolutely no
patience or symphathy for these balls of fat everywhere I look. This
country is filled to the brim with fastfood junkies, and lazy fat slobs that have no goal in life but their next super size side of fries. They have no
idea what it means to "Eat to live, NOT Live to eat".

I grew up in the states in a time period of the 40's, 50's and the 60's.
If there was a "fat" kid in class, he/she would normally be jeered or
made fun of, sometimes in good spirit, but they were plain and simple
made fun of. People back then took it in stride and didn't go ballistic
and shoot up a mall because someone picked on their poor ass. Geeesh !

Take a look around America and you will see oceans of fat, pathetic,
overfed, can't push away from the dinner table for any reason, globs of
fat butterballs. Insensitive you say? Ok, I admit I may be, but I am sure
tired of dodging all of the lardballs in the aisles that claim they are
"handicapped" because they can't stop stuffing the fork into their mouths.

Go ahead and ban me if you wish. I am only projecting my personal
thoughts on the issue, and if there are those who are butter kegs,
too damn bad. Try to excercise something besides your fat elbow that is
bending the next shovel full of food towards your overly blimpo mouth.

Ok, attack me now. I am waiting for the Whales to say something
enlightening !

ZOOMER

reply to post by West Coast


I'm fat as hell, and couldn't be happier.

To me, life is about the experience. And i have tried to experience (and enjoy) as much as possible.

Be what you are gonna be, and be your best at it. I was an all state football player (in Texas, under the Friday Night Lights ), played some college ball, and competed in state weight lifting competitions in my younger days. Those days are LONG gone.

The "waves of fat lardball" crap doesn't really seem necessary.

We, Americans.. for the most part, are what the government designed us to be. We are OVERWORKED just to try and survive, and honestly a box of mac n' cheese is a much cheaper dinner than.. Well, fresh stir-fry vegetables. So is a Carl's Jr 99cent chicken sandwich.
Of course I will also admit that a grapefruit is about the same price as a candy bar.

Poor people cannot afford to eat healthy. Some here have obviously not been following other threads in existence at ATS.
Check out Jackinthebox's "Let Them Eat Cake".
How much was said in another thread, that's given to families who need food stamps? Like $3/day?? Let's you feed your family 3 healthy meals for $3 day.

I wish that the American people would wake up, more than anyone. I work with people that are mainly English, some Canadian. There are oblivious "sheeples" in all country. But I feel Americans have the most responsibility to fight ignorance, and try to turn the world around.

reply to post by LostNemesis


Oh yes those poor Americans, it's not their fault they consume 3790g of fat per day, it's the government! www.diet-blog.com...

Get a grip.
Nobody's gotta gun to half the American population's head telling them they should scarf down 7 times more food than the rest of the world does per year.

89% of Americans are food secure and have more than enough money to consume a healthy diet, they just choose not to.
to.www.ers.usda.gov...

Poor people cannot afford to eat healthy.

So the 14% living below the poverty line account for 1 in 2 Adult Americans being overweight? www.epidemiologic.org...
I don't think so.

It's the lifestyle and culture you guys are brought up in. Nothing more.
You can try to pawn it off onto your government, the foods available, poverty, in the end the only ones you have to really blame are yourselves.

Your conditioned to consume more food than you need, and on top of that foods that are detrimental to your health. All those refined sugars, high GI foods, and tons of carbohydrates feeding a population who doesn't need them.

And I suppose the American people are also the only population with drug addicts? With corrupt government? Stupid people?.. Ones that cannot seem to stop breeding?

I really was NOT going for sympathy. At this point, I think that most of the world's populations have their own individual issues. But at the same time, the collective populations don't seem too different, to me.

And no offense, but in my line of work, I deal with more stupid Aussies than any other group of people I encounter on a daily basis. (not to get into too many details, here. And I've yet to know of another group of "civilized" men who disrespect their women so much.)

Also, not for anyone to take it the wrong way, but I tend to think that we are "all in this together". Sure you may think that all of the world's problems are somehow stemmed from the American people, as that is expected at this point. But we cannot fix the world's problems, and also despite popular belief... We have no control over our government. The same people are probably at the top of yours too.

Honestly, I kinda hope people who blame the world's problems on the US DO go down with us, if we face unfortunate circumstances.

Go ahead and keep laughing about the "Janet Jackson boob scandal", Jerry Springer, and Bill Clinton. We expect that too.

I agree with whoever said that companies/corporations go out of their way to throw away massive amounts of food. Buffet-style is disgusting, unsanitary, and wasteful. Are we the ONLY country that has these things?? LOL

reply to post by LostNemesis

And I suppose the American people are also the only population with drug addicts? With corrupt government? Stupid people?.. Ones that cannot seem to stop breeding?

I never said the rest of the world doesn't have its own share of problems did I?
My point is that Americans are usually intent on blaming others or trying to disperse the guilt around so they can feel contented and their conscience can have a break for a while.

And no offense, but in my line of work, I deal with more stupid Aussies than any other group of people I encounter on a daily basis. (not to get into too many details, here. And I've yet to know of another group of "civilized" men who disrespect their women so much.)

Yes... I know first hand Australians can be quite ignorant too, but I don't see too many Aussies here starting threads with the sole of intent of just bashing another country because they don't like admitting their own country's faults.

Can't handle the heat? Get out of the kitchen. Don't just sweep the hard facts under the rug because it comes back to bite you in the ass.

As for the mistreating women remark, now that I do disagree with.
I don't know what your basing that on but last time I checked you guys had a proportionately higher number of rapes, sexual assaults and domestic disturbances than us.

But we cannot fix the world's problems, and also despite popular belief... We have no control over our government. The same people are probably at the top of yours too.

This isn't about world problems at all....

It's about fixing American perceptions, I realize America isn't the sole contributer to humanity's decay in recent times but it sure as hell has to start acknowledging it does contribute one whole hell of a lot.
The intellectuals may realize, like yourself; but the masses do not.

I see too many Americans getting defensive and being quick to throw the blame onto the Government, the Army, the CIA, history, Arabs, Muslims, Europeans, Foreigners and Crocodiles way before themselves.
Nobody's asking you guys to pay reparations to the rest of world; just acknowledgment that you understand your faults.

Originally posted by centurion1211

Originally posted by space cadet
reply to post by centurion1211

 

And what was the science use to arrive at these numbers? I just find this hard to believe, that as a regular practice most Brit families would throw out food on a reg basis. No I did not read the article. Sometimes the source is enough for me to debunk an issue.

[edit on 9-5-2008 by space cadet]

As I mentioned earlier, polling has become pretty sophisticated these days. Unlike the "logic" used by another poster that basically said they're a vegan, so this can't be true.

Only if most people in the UK were vegans could that kind of logic have a leg to stand on.

The real question should be, what if it is true? What should the Brits be doing about it? In like fashion, many say we've should spend trillions of dollars and dramitically alter our lifestyles because of something called global warming - when nothing has shown that humans have either caused the warming, or more importantly, are capable of doing anything to stop it.

So, it sounds like the people of the UK need to do several things to halt this terrible waste of the planet's resources. I'm going to suggest that they pass laws requiring citizens to buy and maintain refrigeration equipment for their homes - like other developed countries do. No more shopping daily for food, you have to buy in quantity and be able to store the food for a period of time. Next, taxes should be raised on garbage collection and the billing changed to charging by weight to help discourage this wanton throwing away of food.

Now these are excellent suggestions for helping the people of the UK cope with this wasteful situation. My last question is - how does it feel to have someone from another country start telling you how you need to act and what you need to do? Enjoying this? Want some more? No to both questions? Well, think about that the next time you want to pick up your keyboard to bash the U.S. or any other country. Same goes for the rest of the Europeans and Asians. Your turn is just another news article away ...

[edit on 5/9/2008 by centurion1211]

Regarding your use of inverted commas around the word logic. I said "admittedly I am vegan" - demonstrating that the information I gave was not representative - although a sample of one household would be useless anyway. I didn't claim to use logic to derive an answer - I only stated that in my experience, having lived in several non-vegan households, that the results are not representative of my acquaintances.

Regarding your suggestions for action: The vast majority of English households have refrigeration equipment, and shop weekly. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone under the age of 65 who has the time to do it on a daily basis.
In addition, certain county councils (the bodies responsible for taxation for local purposes, including rubbish disposal) have attempted to create a "pay-as-you-go" system for rubbish collection. Thus far, due to the obscene raises in council tax in recent years, it has failed miserably, with people unwilling to pay even more to fund the schemes. We do however, in some councils, have a separate collection for recyclable materials.

Originally posted by 44soulslayer
There is also another distinction to be made.

Is it better to throw away unwanted food, or to consume it and become rampantly obese?

Best solution = dont buy food you dont need. With food prices skyrocketing, I think people will start to look more closely at what they need and buy according.

Another score for the free market forces

It's debatable... Everyone wastes food. I'm pretty sure America would be just as bad if they did a study on us... But good point there. Should they become like America and become obese?

It seems as though their best option (or anyone's for that matter) is to buy enough food they need, and save the rest they don't eat, and I don't mean save it and never eat it! There are starving people everywhere, why 'waste' food?

this is unbelievable! We need to implement Agenda 21 in Britain ASAP. Agenda 21 will save lots of this food and make sure whoever throw away and waste such food will be punished by law. We cannot look at this waste and not regulate the food industry in England.