The United States wastes approximately 40% of its food supply. This article will examine the implications of this waste for food insecurity and climate change. It will also explore how the law and social entrepreneurship can be used to confront this public health challenge.
D.Gunders,et al., Natural Resource Defense Council, Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food From Farm to Fork to Landfill,August2017 at 10, available at <https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf> (last visited April 8, 2019).
J. T.Cook and A. Paula,Poblacion, Estimating the Health-Related Cost of Food Insecurity and Hunger, Apendix 2 of 2016 Hunger Report: The Nourishing Effect: Ending Hunger, Improving Health, Reducing Inequality, November2015, at 183-184, available at <http://hungerreport.org/2016/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/HR2016-Full-Report-Web.pdf> (last visited April 8, 2019).
11.
See Gunders et al., supra note 2, at 12-13
12.
A. J.Crimmins, et al., U.S. Global Change Research Program, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, April2016, at 1-22, available at <http://dx.doi.org/10.7930/J0R49NQX> (last visited April 8, 2019).
For more information about these policy areas and other policy opportunities to address food waste, see Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and Natural Resources Defense Council, Don't Waste, Donate: Enhancing Food Donations Through Federal Policy (March2017), available at <https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/dont-waste-donate-report.pdf> (last visited April 8, 2019); Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, Keeping Food Out of the Landfill: Policy Ideas for States and Localities (April 2016), available at <https://www.chlpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Food-Waste-Toolkit_Oct-2016_smaller.pdf> (last visited April 8, 2019).
15.
42 U.S.C. § 1791 (2018)
16.
42 U.S.C. § 1791 (2018)
17.
42 U.S.C. § 1791 (2018)
18.
I.R.C. § 170(e)(2018)
19.
See Tax Reform Act of 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-455, § 2135, 90 Stat. 1525, 1928-29, (1976) (codified at I.R.C. § 170(e)(3)).
20.
H.R. 2029, 114th Cong. § 113(a) (2017) (codified at I.R.C. § 170(e)(3)(C). Previously, the enhanced deduction was available only to C-corporations.
T. P.Labuza and L. M.Szybist, Current Practices and Regulations Regarding Open Dating of Food Products10 (The Retail Food Industry Ctr., Working Paper No. 01, 1999).
27.
E. Broad,Leib, C.Rice, R.Neff, M.Spiker, A.Schklair, and S.Greenberg, Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, National Consumer Institute, and Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Consumer Perceptions of Date Labels: National Survey1-2 (May2016), available at <https://www.chlpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Consumer-Perceptions-on-Date-Labels_May-2016.pdf> (last visited November 15, 2018)
