Letting food go to waste

Supermarkets and restaurants do it all the time, despite the desperate need for surplus food at homeless shelters, soup kitchens and other organizations that feed the poor. Liability concerns are a big reason food is thrown out rather than donated, according to a two-part series by California Watch (and run in the Daily News). Thing is, state and federal laws protect businesses from liability should anybody get sick from food donations (the exceptions being gross negligence or intentional misconduct).

Just ask John Wadginski, who is still bothered by the amount of food he discarded nightly while working in the delicatessen at a Safeway store in Davis. "I had to throw out 10-pound hams that weren't even touched," said Wadginski, now 24. "It was easily 50 pounds of food a night." Wadginski volunteered to take the surplus to a local shelter, but his supervisors declined his request. "They told me no because if anything happened, they would be liable," Wadginski said.

All told, 6 million tons of edible food in California ends up in the trash. That's especially shameful at a time when so many folks are hurting. The story notes that most grocery chains participate in some sort of hunger-relief program, though they limit the types of merchandise donated. Here's Part One and Part Two.