America Wastes 40% of It's Food Supply Every Year

America, a new study suggests, wastes 40% of its food supply annually. Published in the Public Library of Science, the research indicates a dramatic increase over the last decades, up from 28% in 1974.

This number, however, is not what it seems.

To understand this percentage, you have to first look at what it intends to calculate.

It does not represent the amount of food that makes it into our refrigerators and pantries only to end up in the garbage. This waste is usually estimated to be closer to 27 % of all food available for consumption, or about one pound per person per day.

Instead, the PLoS study's 40% is an estimate of waste in the entire food system. This means that all the waste that occurs between the field and processing plant, that plant and the store, the store and our homes, and our refrigerators and our mouths is included.