WASHINGTON D.C. — Food loss at the retail and consumer levels in the United States includes 14.8 billion pounds of fruit and 23.4 billion pounds of vegetables, valued at $15.1 billion and $27.7 billion, respectively in 2008 retail market prices.

This is according to a study done by USDA economists Jean C. Buzby, Jeffrey Hyman, Hayden Stewart and Hodan F. Wells. “We were using data to estimate the amount of loss at the retail and the consumer levels to have a better understanding of what food is produced but not consumed by humans,” Buzby said. “To have a sense of the magnitude of food loss at those two levels and to try and put a value on the fruit and vegetable losses in particular, we covered all of these individual foods that are in our loss adjusted food availability data.”

It is estimated the production of wasted food required the expenditure of approximately 300 million barrels of oil and over 25 percent of the total fresh water used in the United States, Buzby said.

Another study completed in 2009 made the case that in global food markets, food wasted in developed countries meant less food was available for others to buy and wasting less food could liberate agricultural land for other uses. That study noted a certain amount of surplus food was needed to prevent shortages and the demand for food in developed countries, including that which was wasted, stimulated production and helped raise revenue for farmers – including those in developing countries, Buzby said.

Growing populations, increasing pressure on agricultural land and other limited resources and the negative effects of food loss on the environment mean it is becoming increasingly important to estimate the amount and value of food loss, including food waste, Buzby added.

In general, food waste measurements in the U.S. rely on structured interviews, measurements of plate waste, examination of garbage and application of inferential methods using waste factors measures in sample populations and applied across the food system, she said. Food loss, particularly at the consumer level, is difficult to measure. “I hope to draw awareness to the issue by providing data that other people can use,” Buzby said. “It is more to show what the data suggests. With the population predictions, there is going a demand for more food in the future to feed this growing world population.”

Some studies talk about needing 60-70 percent more food to feed the world population by 2050, she said. Reducing food loss is just one way to be able to do that.