This publication, issued by USDA’s Economic Research Service, is the source for a number of often-cited estimates of food loss and waste in the United States:
- In the United States, 31 percent—or 133 billion pounds—of the 430 billion pounds of the available food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten.
- The estimated total value of food loss at the retail and consumer levels in the United States was $161.6 billion in 2010.
- The total amount of food loss represents 387 billion calories of food not available for human consumption per day in 2010, or 1,249 out of 3,796 calories available per American per day.
