WHOLE FOODS WASTES FOOD IN WASHINGTON DC Metro Area

Today we stopped by Whole Foods in the DC Metro area. First and foremost let me say that I like Whole Foods. The are truly a model to follow in their effort to support and give back to the communities that they are in.

With that said I was very concerned to see this food waste today. I was wandering around looking for something healthy to snack on and was at the food bar when a beautiful tray of hot macaroni and cheese caught my eye on the service cart. An employee pulled the old and replaced it with this full pan. I asked what would happen to this 1/3 full pan of macaroni and cheese and they told me " it has been there over an hour, it will get thrown out". I also noticed that later when I went back there was a 1/3 full tray of beef ribs to meet the same fate on his cart.

I am not going to lecture Whole Foods, I am going to ask that they take another lead in the food industry and try to end needless waste in all of their stores. I believe they are up to the challenge and can make a difference in this VERY SERIOUS problem we are not completely solving in this country.

One idea I have is that they could offer these 'about to expire' items at 1/2 price to their customers. Let's call it a 'green light special'. The technology is there to figure this out and I think that they, more than anybody have the right clientele to support the end to this kind of food waste in ways that are respectful to Whole Foods and their need to make profits. Of course it would take A LITTLE more effort, but not much.

I am willing to voluntarily offer my time to Whole Foods if they would like to put together a task force to address this problem and lead the way for food waste reduction in this area. I do not want to do the math to figure out how much food is being wasted daily in this way, lets just try to problem solve in a positive, productive way, together.

I would also post a response to this blog if they would like to send one and post a follow up rating.

WHOLE FOODS RATING ( WASHINGTON DC METRO AREA)

COMMUNITY * * * * *

FOOD WASTE REDUCTION *

(based on a * - * * * * * star rating system)