There should be a new Law against Throwing Food in the Trash Bin .. (Very Shocking Pictures)

reply to post by Zaphod58


then some would need to sign waivers to cease the lawsuits.

I am an Executive Chef for a large hotel/conference center, and I can tell you that state health codes and city codes require that food be tossed for a variety of reasons.

It's unfortunate that we have to do it but a majority of the time it is for a very good reason. Most foodservice operations keep a very tight lid on waste to maximize profit, so they are not throwing good food in the dumpster without proper cause.

Some state laws also require that foods cooked, not necessarily served, on a buffet cannot be re-heated and served again. That does cause a lot of waste. That is when I like to take the food to local shelters. They get a great meal for free and it helps out many homeless, women, kids and veterans.


ETA: Lawsuits are very few and far between and usually are brought on by donating food that was tainted or cooked improperly.

reply to post by ATSGrunt


A lot of places would donate food, if there was a way to stop the lawsuits, be it waiver, or law or whatever. Just with jury awards being so insanely ridiculous most places are too afraid to even try to donate food.

My oldest daughter was working for a very nice restaurant part time and going to college. She had a real yelling fit and got fired for :
calling attention to the incredible waste
saying it was immoral to have a privacy fence and lock around the dumpsters
and telling the homeless guy to wait until after her shift and she would give him some of the left overs.

Of course now I have to give her money until she finds a new job.. but Im proud of her.

Disallowing the hungry to eat from our trash and the homeless to live in our pseudo-wonderful cities in homeless camps is nothing new.

reply to post by Advantage


Well, yelling fits at work are unacceptable in any context. If she really wanted to make a change, she surely could have gone about it more effectively if she had approached it in a better manner. Why didn't she contact a local shelter and ask them to get a pro-bono lawyer to develop some type of agreement to mutually benefit the shelter and the restaurant? Why didn't she shoot out 20 or 30 ideas for the restaurant that were superior to their current plan?

She would be unemployed if the restaurant had been sued into oblivion, or if the restaurant clientele stopped coming due to homeless people hanging around outside, but in both of those instances the restaurant owner would also be unemployed. The owner was smart to fire her, because that action protected the rest of the employees, whereas her actions threatened the whole operation.

I worked at a grocery in between jobs for several months. The amount of food being thrown away was Appalling. I almost cried when two shopping carts from our department were sent straight to the trash one day because they couldn't be picked up for charity. They do donate some, but throw away FAR more and, like others have said, the dumpsters are sealed. I understand the laws and codes are ridiculously stringent, but they won't even let employees take food home- stuff baked or cooked that day but was damaged (ie; cracked pie, dented bread etc) Every big grocery store chain does it and I imagine restuarants to. I always thought if they just bagged the stuff up with 'donated item- eat at own risk' or something maybe some hungry people could have something once in awhile. I also wonder why they can't donate some of the stuff to zoos and farms? Elephants would probably love all those pumpkins they toss out around Halloween! I'd imagine lots of animals could be fed the fruits, veggies, and bread items. Also could be used for compost. I just don't get it!

reply to post by Starcrossd


My grandfather used to get a pickup truck load of produce every day from local grocery stores. He fed it to his pigs, and he never had to buy feed for them ever. They made him promise not to eat the stuff, but they were fine with him feeding it to his pigs.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Advantage

 

Well, yelling fits at work are unacceptable in any context. If she really wanted to make a change, she surely could have gone about it more effectively if she had approached it in a better manner. Why didn't she contact a local shelter and ask them to get a pro-bono lawyer to develop some type of agreement to mutually benefit the shelter and the restaurant? Why didn't she shoot out 20 or 30 ideas for the restaurant that were superior to their current plan?

She would be unemployed if the restaurant had been sued into oblivion, or if the restaurant clientele stopped coming due to homeless people hanging around outside, but in both of those instances the restaurant owner would also be unemployed. The owner was smart to fire her, because that action protected the rest of the employees, whereas her actions threatened the whole operation.

LOL! She is autistic. They hired her knowing it. All they had to do was take the 5 minutes to explain it to her like I did when it happened. Brilliant, but doesnt really get why things are the way they are sometimes. I forget, not everyone knows about her... though many do here on ATS. The thing I was getting at is that the waste is incredible and no move is made by restaurants to themselves contact any shelter or any way to do whats right. Theyve been in business and in this town for a little under 30 years, no way they dont know the shelters and charities and the problems we have had since our mayor shut down the salvation army homeless shelter.

I knew a homeless man that got banned from a store for stealin donuts outta their trash. wtf? I had to buy some beer for him cause of this..

Theres a local chain of stores here called martins, they donate their bakeries old breard to food banks. Maybe we should compile a list of such places and put pressure on others to do the same.

Also i drive a truck. If a case of food is damaged the warehouses reject it and its supposed to be thrown away. Sometimes it gets donated but usually the trucker ends up sellin it on the cb radio at a truckstop and gets a few bucks off it. I got 3 cases of hebrew national balogna rejected once, the shipper damaged the cases and shipped then anyway, cust didnt want it, so shipper writes it off and i was told to throw it away. Tax loophole. I sold two cases and kept one. I drive a tanker now and occasionally have access to take things home in buckets. It cant all flow out sometimes and the washout charges 3 bucks a gallon for disposal. Its usually chemicals or raw soap ingredients but i took home 5 gallons of liquid soap once. I dont steal anything that i can unload though. Thats wrong.....

So, i kind of feel like these warehouses should be donating this food instead of it getting sold off the back of the truck by the driver!

reply to post by Advantage


As for me personally, I have had extremely bad experiences with the shelters, and I wouldn't donate to them. I'd be happy to feed people, but it turns out the shelters don't actually want food or blankets or survival gear, all they want is CASH! That is a topic for another thread, I've already shared my stories many times, but I wouldn't be too quick to condemn your mayor. Shutting down a homeless shelter is probably a good thing, it was probably just a center of corruption and crime.

I saw a documentary about "Freegans" recently. They are a group of people who dumpster dive and eat only what they find. They eat quite well.

Originally posted by Advantage

saying it was immoral to have a privacy fence and lock around the dumpsters

Maybe your daughter should stop trying to impose her morals on others.

Especially when it comes to what people/businesses do with their own property.

Originally posted by Advantage

The thing I was getting at is that the waste is incredible and no move is made by restaurants to themselves contact any shelter or any way to do whats right.

Who are you to determine what is "right"?

How much effort have you personally made? Have you approached each and every restaurant in your area with a plan? Have you consulted attorneys to find about what kind of liability each establishment would face if someone got sick from eating old food? Have you determined a means of transporting all of this food? How about figured out the cost to transport it? Labor, fuel, maintenance, etc etc.

What did each establishment tell you since I'm sure you have done all of the above?

reply to post by FreeFromTheHerd
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania used to donate road-killed and poacher-killed deer to various places for use as food.
They don't do it anymore, due to liability.
The carcasses are hauled to dumping areas (usually located on State Gamelands) and left to rot.

Originally posted by HandyDandy
reply to post by Ben81

 

The reason this happens in the first place is because of laws. So, do we really need another one?

Exactly.

Anytime anyone says "There oughtta be a law..." the sentiment should get tossed into the trash.

Originally posted by ShadowAngel85
Here in Germany we have a charity organisation that collects food from restaurants, supermarkets and other stores, that would've ended in the trash. They take it to food banks and to help out homeless and other poor people. I think this should exist in every modern country.
The food isn't bad, it's just that most stores produce so much, they can't sell it and throw it away or deem it unsaleable because vegetables might have some dark spots or the package was ripped open. I don't understand why they do it.

Thank you for this post.

It's awesome to know Someone is actually doing that. Did this origination get the highest Humanitarian award Germany can give? Heck, the whole world should give them an award.

In fact, if this organization started chapters in all major cities world wide they could solve the worlds hunger problem for good.

reply to post by ShadowAngel85


Here in America, it's more important that corporations make money than it is that homeless people eat.

See, the destitute are just lazy.

Viva free markets.

*wank*

reply to post by Ben81


I worked at walmart, and we were forced to throw away tons of food a week. Once clothes where out of season we were forced to cut them up with scissors or bleach them. I refused and quit, I have limits.

reply to post by Ben81


And you would probably be the first to sue if you got sick from eating it.Having been a manager in a supermarket,that's the number one reason most food got thrown out.All it would take is one or two people getting sick and that store could be put out of business.

There were certain foods that WERE donated,such as canned goods that were damaged in a shipment.I'm not saying that I really agree with it,but look at it from a business perspective,especially the non-chain stores.They don't have the backing of corporate and would easily have to close.The store worked at if we had a bunch of product that was over ordered and was nearing expiration,it got donated.It was usually cereal,juice or other dry grocery products.Donating expired meat or anything like that and you're asking to get sued.Especially in today's sue happy world it won't take much.

This got to stop .. dont they have any notion of respect for the millions dying in africa ?
each day they should hire a van to take all the food they dont want to sell anymore
and bring it to a center where people in need and homeless can feed all they want

Umm, no. Poor people need jobs, not hand outs. Homeless need to get their act together, not free food.

How about making a law that everyone has to meet minimum standards of living FOR THEMSELVES, without a handout from a program.