Let’s bring frozen foods into the food waste conversation

Forty percent of food goes to waste every year in America, a nation where many still face hunger. While policymakers have begun to address the issue, there’s one solution that has been absent from most national conversations about reducing food waste: frozen foods.

Frozen foods can help us achieve many of our shared policy goals. As with other waste reduction strategies, frozen foods can improve resource conservation, help feed a growing world and ensure more people have access to affordable, safe and nutritious foods.

{mosads}Rep. Chellie Pingree’s Food Recovery Act represents a major step forward in the fight against food waste. Frozen foods are ideally suited to address the bill’s proposed modification to the National School Lunch Program’s procurement requirements to encourage purchase of lower-price, non-standard size or shape produce.

These so-called “ugly” fruits and vegetables are a major source of food waste. A recent study estimated that half of all produce is wasted because of aesthetic “flaws” that don’t affect the food’s nutrition or flavor. “Ugly” produce is already being put to good use in frozen foods, where it is chopped or pureed before freezing, making appearance irrelevant—and making them an ideal size for kids.

Frozen foods are a solution for families, too. The average American family throws out an estimated 25 percent of the food and beverages they buy, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). In a year, a family of four will lose between $1,350 and $2,275 on wasted food, the NRDC says.

About 40 percent of the food produced in America each year is never eaten, so the water, fuel and labor that went into growing that food is also wasted. This totals nearly $162 billion lost every year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Buying frozen foods could change those numbers for the better. Research published in the British Food Journal shows that frozen foods generate 47 percent less food waste in the home compared to ambient and chilled food.

Frozen foods can make a major difference in low-income areas without access to produce. These areas, known as “food deserts,” are a key issue in the broadly-shared policy goal that all Americans deserve access to healthy food. Frozen fruits and vegetables could ensure produce is available in all communities and in all seasons.

The website frozenfoodfacts.org contains more information on how frozen foods can benefit American families. The frozen food facts section explains why frozen foods are a great value and can be a healthier choice. In fact, a study from the University of California-Davis in partnership with the Frozen Food Foundation found that frozen fruits and vegetables are just as healthy – and sometimes more nutritious – than their fresh-stored counterparts because they are picked and frozen at peak ripeness. The NRDC and the Ad Council’s website savethefood.com suggests freezing food as a solution to reducing waste, and has useful information about which foods can be frozen and how best to freeze them.  

It’s time to bring frozen foods into the food waste conversation – at home and in our policy making decisions. Doing so could be the change we need to significantly reduce food waste.

Alison Bodor is the President & CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute.

The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.