Farmers, restaurants and supermarkets throw away millions of tons of
edible food each year at a time when a growing number of Californians
struggle to put food on the table.

State studies have found that more than six million tons of food
products are dumped annually, enough to fill the Staples Center in Los
Angeles 35 times over. Food is the largest single source of waste in
California, making up 15.5 percent of the Golden State's waste
stream, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

An examination by California Watch and the Annenberg School for
Communication and Journalism at USC found shortcomings along
California's food distribution chain that allow vast amounts of food to
go to waste in landfills, despite laws and tax incentives that
encourage food donations. The problems persist at every step.

Among the examination's findings:

•  Millions of tons of fruit and vegetables rot in fields and
orchards or are plowed over each year. Some of these edible crops are
left behind because they are misshapen or discolored. Gleaning programs
rescue only a small portion of the field waste.

•  Major retail grocery chains are more likely to throw away fruits,
vegetables and even entire hams and roasts than donate to distribution
centers. Although federal and state laws protect grocers from
liability, many stores expressed concerns that donated food could
sicken recipients, even if it has yet to reach its expiration date.
While some major chains donate food, others do not.

• Restaurants dump tens of thousands of tons of edible food every
year. The vast majority of the state's 90,000 restaurants and eateries
do not participate in food donation programs.
Waste is not just an issue for corporate chains and mom-and-pop
eateries. Discarded food represents a quarter of all waste tossed away
by California households.

A certain amount of waste is inevitable in all forms of business.
It's built into the economics of every production and manufacturing
cycle- whether it is clothes-making, homebuilding or newspaper
printing. But the commodity of food takes on added significance,
experts say. Health officials, researchers, economists, farmers and
corporate leaders interviewed for this project say that more efficient
production and distribution of our food could help feed millions of
families.

"Waste is built into the food chain, at all levels," said Jonathan
Bloom, author of an upcoming book on food waste and of the blog Wasted
Food. "On the whole, the amount of food we waste is ridiculous,
especially when you consider the number of Americans who experience
hunger every day."

Numerous volunteer organizations work to "re-harvest" California's
vast produce landscape and divert edible food that would be wasted from
grocery stores and restaurants into California's food banks and soup
kitchens.

"It's a win-win situation," said Arlene Mercer, founder of Food
Finders, a Long Beach-based food recovery group that collects donations
from supermarkets and restaurants for food pantries. "They can receive
a tax writeoff, people will be fed, and it will stop food waste."

Many of California's farms, grocery store chains and restaurants
donate millions of pounds of food each year to help the needy. They are
spurred by good will, green initiatives and relentless demands to cut
costs, including food waste disposal.

"When it comes to feeding people, there's no competition," said
Lilia Rodriguez, a spokesperson for Albertsons, whose Fresh Rescue
program makes hard-to-get dairy and meat products available to food
banks. "We feel like if we don't do it, who will?"

But, Mercer and others say too many opportunities are missed to divert food to the hungry before it is thrown away.

The problem starts in the fields.

Gleaning efforts capture small percentage of produce

California's carpet of farmland spans 25 million acres and produces
about half of the nation's fruits, nuts and vegetables, according to
the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Although no one can estimate exactly how much food is left in the
fields, experts say it amounts to millions of tons of produce, much of
it plowed under after every harvest.

Though farmers pride themselves on efficiency, they also run
businesses that are subject to weather and market forces. If a farmer
can't sell a crop for a price that pays for the harvest or if some of
it doesn't meet the retailers' cosmetic requirements, the crop goes to
waste. It doesn't matter if the produce is edible.

"Waste is inevitable," said Mike O'Leary of Boskovich farms in
Ventura County. "We try to minimize it, but sometimes fields have to be
disked," resulting in good foods being plowed under.

Some farms try to cut their waste by donating produce to food banks.
This year, Del Monte Foods Co. donated more than two million pounds of
bananas and cantaloupes to Ventura Food Share.

Millions more pounds are rescued from the plow blade by gleaning
groups all over the state that deliver "second harvest" crops to food
banks for distribution to local meal and pantry programs. The
California Association of Food Banks, which represents 45 food banks,
has distributed more than 60 million pounds of food through its Farm to
Family gleaning program.

But those efforts are only so successful. During one recent gleaning
operation, about 10 percent of an estimated 140,000 pounds of carrots
left above ground were rescued, according to Christy Porter, founder of
Coachella-based Hidden Harvest, which hires low-income farm workers to
glean locally grown food.

"We couldn't go fast enough to get the product before it spoiled," she said.

A 2004 study by anthropologist Timothy Jones estimated that up to 10
percent of certain crops, such as cauliflower, never leave the
field. He projected that the overall figure for crop waste in the
United States is closer to 20 percent.

Farmers dispute such figures, claiming much higher efficiency.

"We're not in the business of leaving commodities in the field,"
said Scott Deardorff of Deardorff Family Farms in Ventura County. He
estimated that food left in the fields is closer to 5 percent. Many
farmers account for a 5 percent loss as part of their business
operations to cover food that is left in the field, losses due to bad
weather and other factors. But even 5 percent of the produce could help
feed thousands of California families.

Programs like Hidden Harvest have recovered millions of pounds of
food yearly. But obstacles prevent more gleaning efforts, including a
need for more volunteers and liability concerns from farmers worried
that gleaners might be injured in their fields.

Some grocers reluctant to donate food

Some of the nation's major grocery chains are reluctant to donate
much of the food leftover each night because of liability concerns.

John Wadginski, 24, saw this first hand.

While in college Wadginski worked at a Safeway store deli in Davis.
The amount of food he tossed into the trash every night still bothers
him.

"I had to throw out 10-pound hams that weren't even touched," he said. "It was easily 50 pounds of food a night."

Wadginski asked his supervisors if he could volunteer to take the food to a local shelter.

State and federal laws have been in place for more than a decade to
protect businesses and individuals from criminal and civil liability
should recipients become ill from food donations. But grocery stories
are still worried.

"They told me no because if anything happened, they would be liable," Wadginski said.

The 1996 federal law protects all donations made in good faith.
States have similar statutes. The only exceptions are gross negligence
or intentional misconduct. A plaintiff would have to prove that a
company or individual intentionally tried to harm another person by
making a donation of food they knew to be unsafe.

"Many of them don't understand," said Mercer of Food Finders. "We
try to educate them that they are protected by the Good Samaritan laws
and our insurance and that neither have ever been challenged."

Mercer said she faces many initial roadblocks with some chains. They
think that it will take too much time or they fear their sales may
somehow be impacted by donating, even though donated food is dispersed
only through food banks and other nonprofit and community groups.

Most grocery chains participate in some sort of hunger relief
program. Safeway and Vons, for example, make donations to Feeding
America, formerly America's Second Harvest. The Los Angeles Regional
Food Bank and San Diego Food Bank are major recipients of their
donations. But chains often limit donations to bakery items - the kind
of foods hunger organizations need the least. Other stores hesitate or
refuse to donate perishable items, like produce and meat.

"Many grocery stores decline to give food because they're either
unaware of the liability protection in place or they feign ignorance of
the law because they don't want to bother," said Bloom, author of the
blog Wasted Food. "Almost as often, stores know they'd win such a
lawsuit, but are afraid of the negative publicity they'd face if such a
suit happened."

Safeway and Vons spokesperson Teena Massingill acknowledged concerns
about liability as a reason why meats and other spoilable items aren't
donated.

"Safeway does not donate items that are not fit for consumption or
could be unfit for consumption when they reach the final recipient,"
Massingill said. "Once the items are out of our control, we cannot
guarantee that they will be kept under the specified temperatures.

"While Good Samaritan laws may or may not protect a donor in this
case, it is best to error on the side of caution when dealing with the
health and safety of others. Many pantries do not have refrigeration
units on site at all, making it impossible to completely avoid
spoilage."

Food recovery groups say they are trained in food-handling
practices. They want the food to get safely into the hands of the
hungry as much as the donors do. With needs so great, the food is
unlikely to sit around for long.

Costco sends about 45 million pounds of food each year to compost,
its own records show. The chain has no company-wide food recovery
program. Mercer of Food Finders said that though she has approached the
company, Costco has chosen not to participate, instead offering her
discounts on the food she buys for the programs and occasional free
turkeys.

"The food that is thrown into the dumpster isn't food that's
suitable for human consumption," said Karen Raines, director of
corporate sustainability for Costco, echoing a common refrain of
grocery chains.

But that might not always be the case.

Mercer said that some foods can often stay good for 10 days past a "sell-by" date. Raines isn't so sure.
"Those sell-by dates are there for a reason," she said.

"Costco is donating what it can legally donate," Raines added. "You'll find it's the same at all the chains."

But other chains have taken a different view.

Albertsons was the first food chain to start a formal perishable
food recovery program. In the Fresh Rescue program, stores within the
Albertsons chain can partner with an organization in their community to
receive food from the supermarket. Each store has one or two employees
trained and designated to work with partner agencies.

"Stores have been doing it on their own for a few years now, but we
wanted to find a way to pull it all together," said Lilia Rodriguez,
the public affairs manager for Albertsons. "It's eggs, cheese, milk,
fruits - and it's those products that are really hard for food banks to
get a hold of. Non-perishables are usually what they get."

Rodriguez said that in addition to helping the community, the program improves employee morale.

"The employee that helps knows they're doing their part in the
community," she said. "They know the shelter or church around the
corner it's going to."

Rodriguez said the chain feels protected by the federal and state
Good Samaritan laws but also urges its partner agencies to take
precautions transporting food.

"Most but not all [agencies] have refrigerated trucks. If they
don't, we ask them to cover the food with thermal blankets for the 15-
or 20-minute drive to the agency. We want to make sure it gets there
safely."

Other food recovery programs that don't have refrigerated trucks say
that they can transport reasonable amounts of food short distances
using thermal blankets. Albertsons has also provided refrigerated
trucks to some of their partner organizations.

"When it comes to feeding people, there's no competition," Rodriguez
said. "Number one, it's the right thing to do. Number two, one of our
top initiatives as a company is the fight against hunger. We feel like,
if we don't do it, who will? It isn't about cost-impact. It's about
doing what's right. And ultimately, it helps our customers."

Other corporate chains are following suit.

After years of criticism for its food waste, Walmart started a
partnership with Feeding America in November 2008. According to a
statement from the company, the program is now in place in all Walmart
stores and has led to the donation of more than 90 million pounds of
food since 2008. This month, Walmart donated 35 refrigerated trucks to
Feeding America. The company and its foundation have given hundreds of
millions of dollars to food programs across the country.

"Walmart's food donation program takes food that is still safe for
consumption off Walmart shelves and delivers it to neighborhood food
banks," the company said in a statement. "The food - which consists of
nutritious servings of produce, deli meat, beef, chicken, dairy and
other groceries - is then given to needy families, often in less than
24 hours."

At Ralphs, the chain launched a new program to distribute food that
has reached its "sell-by" date but remains edible. The program is now
in place in two-thirds of Ralphs stores. The company hopes to expand it
all stores by this spring.

"It's meat that's at its sell-by date - if we freeze it on that
date, the food bank is still very able to use it," said Ralphs
spokesperson Kendra Doyel. "It's also produce - slightly bruised fruit
for example."

She said the company realized protein and produce were "very critical" for the needs of food banks.

"We like people who like food, and we've had a long-standing
commitment to food waste," said Doyel. "This way we can reduce food
waste and get more food to them."

Doyel said that in implementing the program, the company put
safeguards in place to assure food got to food banks safely. The
company now works with food banks and food recovery groups in a
certification process "to know they can handle it," said Doyel. As part
of the process, the company makes sure its partner organizations have
refrigerated trucks or thermal blankets.

"It was a matter of getting a program in place. We take it personally not only as company but as individuals," Doyel said.

Restaurants say they have little waste

Restaurants have the same financial incentives to donate to food recovery programs. But they too often choose not to.

"They think it is going to take too much time, too much effort and
companies aren't willing to invest more time now to do things even
though there is a financial upside to donating their surplus food,"
said Steve Dietz, director of business for Food Donation Connection,
which works nationally to recover surplus food from restaurants.

Deitz says he frequently deals with "pushback" from reluctant
restaurants, which are skeptical that it is so easy to donate: "It's
almost too simple; too good to be true."

More than 90,000 eating and drinking establishments operate in
California, according to the California Restaurant Association. But
fewer than 1,000 restaurants donated last year through Food Donation
Connection, which is by far the largest program that links food service
donors with hunger relief agencies. The 940 California restaurants that
participated in 2009 included nearly 400 Pizza Huts, more than 100 KFC
locations and more than 100 Chipotle Mexican Grill establishments.

A big part of the reason why so few restaurants participate is
because most are mom-and-pop operations or single-owner franchises,
which are not eligible for the additional tax deduction for food
donations, said Steve Dietz of Food Donation Connection. Only major
corporations and large franchise owners, called "C Corporations, are
eligible for the deduction. A temporary allowance for small businesses
expired at the end of 2009. Food Donation Connection and Feeding
America are working with Congress to resurrect the tax deduction and
make it permanent for all businesses.

And while some restaurants are donating their surplus food through
other programs - possibly without additional tax deductions - some
restaurants said they are not donating regularly or at all for other
reasons.

Representatives for Brinker International, which includes Chili's
Grill & Bar, On the Border Grill & Mexican Cantina, and
Maggiano's Little Italy, said the company doesn't have a policy in
place for the donation of prepared food. According to Food Donation
Connection, Brinker's distribution center now donates unused items and
discontinued ingredients.

Representatives for Sizzler and Carl's Jr. said the companies don't
donate surplus food because strict production guidelines prevent either
company from generating waste.

Yet, a 2006 study by the California Integrated Waste Management
Board showed that food makes up 51.4 percent of waste disposed of by
fast food restaurants and 66.1 percent of waste disposed of by
full-service restaurants.

While not all of that food is recoverable and edible, agencies that feed the hungry said these numbers are devastating.

"The amount of food that is wasted is heart-breaking to me because
it can be harvested," said Louise Morris, the food coordinator at
Shining Light Ministries in Garden Grove. "People are hungry and it's
just thrown away."

Although food waste continues to be a major issue, some restaurants
are getting on board to help combat the state's hunger
problem. California restaurants partnering with Food Donation
Connection donated nearly 2.5 million pounds of food in 2009, said
Dietz.

The Cheesecake Factory and Chipotle Mexican Grill each contribute to
the Shining Light Ministries' feeding program, which serves 125 to 150
meals a week, on average. On one recent evening, 198 pounds of food
from the Cheesecake Factory and Chipotle helped feed 117 people.

"For us to get the food from the restaurants is very crucial,"
Morris said. "With the economy the way it is, we're seeing our numbers
increase."

Every Thursday night, 200 people, including Dale William Wallace,
receive a hearty meal at the North Orange Christian Church, courtesy of
the Irvine Yard House restaurant.

"I rely on places like this, certain days of the week, to eat," said
Wallace, who lost his job doing masonry in the tile industry more than
a year ago. "It's the only meal I'll have that day."

The weekly dinner is part of a program that started more than a year ago in Yard House's Irvine kitchen.

"We're a restaurant, we feed people, and we have quite a bit of
resources that would otherwise go into the trash, or go elsewhere,"
said corporate executive chef Carlito Jocson, who initiated the
program. "I felt it would be an easy thing to do to just throw into
production. However, it was easy with 50, now it's kind of becoming a
pretty big production, making enough food for 200 people."

Dietz of Food Donation Connection said tax incentives should also provide reason to participate in food programs.

Congress passed a law in 1976 that encourages donations by allowing
companies to earn an enhanced tax deduction for donating selected
surplus property, including food, according to Food Donation
Connection. Neither the California Franchise Tax Board nor IRS said
they track how often companies take advantage of the tax breaks.

"In a nutshell, it reduces the cost of your loss by 59 percent as an
average, which is a huge, huge savings to a company that throws away a
lot of product," said Dietz.

But Dietz said some food establishments don't want to acknowledge that waste is an issue.

"Most restaurants who do not admit their waste, I feel, are
concerned that shareholders will think they are not good operators if
they have surplus food," Dietz said.

Others may not participate because it requires extra work. In some
cases, it's easier to throw food away, food bank officials said.

"Is it easier to take all of your food at the end of the night and
put it into the refrigerator and store it until someone can come and
pick it up, or is it easier to just throw it away and send it to the
landfill?" said Kelly King of the Orange County Second Harvest Food
Bank.

"We have 442 agencies, or partner agencies with us, and just imagine
if every restaurant in Orange County donated to us, what we could do
with all those agencies," King said.

Despite being optimistic that more restaurants are catching on, urgency is needed, Dietz said.

"Agencies will go out of business and people will go hungry if we
can't supply the amount of food needed to feed the hungry people of the
United States. And the food is out there. We know it's out there. We
have talked to restaurants that have it."