North Columbus News

The Ohio State University is spearheading a $2.5 million USDA-funded initiative to reduce food loss and waste. Brian Roe, a professor in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), will oversee a pilot consumer campaign aimed at decreasing household food waste in the U.S.

Roe, who specializes in agricultural, environmental, and development economics (AEDE), will collaborate with Sara Elnakib, associate director of Cooperative Extension at Rutgers University. Together, they will create educational messages and campaign materials designed to significantly reduce household food waste.

“About one-third of all food is wasted, with about half of that occurring in homes throughout the United States,” Roe stated. “Lessons learned from the pilot campaign will be used to develop an integrated education program for governmental and non-governmental organizations.”

This grant represents part of a broader series of USDA investments targeting food loss and waste reduction. Recently, the USDA allocated $57 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds to promote nationwide action from farm to table.

“Brian’s work on reducing food waste is a shining example of the power of the integrated land-grant mission to solve pressing problems. His scholarly research has advanced knowledge on key elements of human behavior related to food waste,” said Amy Ando, professor and chair of AEDE. “His involvement with Extension and federal agencies is putting that knowledge to work to strengthen food supply chains, improve the environment, and save consumers money.”

Roe has conducted extensive research on food waste over the years and is considered an expert on the topic. For instance, he discovered widespread confusion regarding date labels on food packages.

“Only in rare circumstances is that date about food safety,” he noted. “Removing ‘sell by’ and ‘use by’ dates from food packages could significantly reduce the amount of good food that is trashed.”

His advocacy for uniform national standards for these labels aligns with similar interagency and international efforts.

The USDA recently announced a renewed agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to continue their Federal Interagency Collaboration to Reduce Food Loss and Waste. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) also joined this collaboration to address global issues related to food loss.

“By renewing this agreement and adding USAID into the effort, we affirm our shared commitment to coordinated action to reduce food loss and waste and educate Americans on its impacts and importance,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “Individually and collectively, each of these agencies is working to combat food loss and waste from farm to table.”

In collaboration with EPA, USDA has increased membership in the U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions program from 30 members in March 2020 to around 50 currently. This group includes major industry players like Danone North America, Smithfield Foods Inc., Starbucks, Sysco, and Tyson Foods who have committed publicly to halving their own operations' food loss by 2030.

“Addressing consumer food waste is critical as it often ends up in landfills where it causes several undesirable outcomes,” Roe emphasized.

Annually, nearly 80 billion pounds of food are sent to municipal solid waste landfills in the U.S., making it the largest category of material placed there according to EPA data. In these landfills, decomposing organic matter emits methane—a potent greenhouse gas—making them one of the top sources of human-related methane emissions nationwide.

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