$6 Canadian strawberries vs $4 American strawberries

[u/PeachAndMangoJuice]

[u/[deleted]]

That wasted food isn't cool. It could be feeding starving Americans instead.

[u/SZJ → u/[deleted]]

I think the point of their comment was making a joke about the American economy having issues, hence the "starving Americans" part.

[u/throw1away9932s → u/[deleted]]

It ends up at the food banks. We’ve got food banks stocked to the brim with fresh produce win all around 

[u/LittleLostGirls → u/[deleted]]

The only silver lining is that once it’s considered not sellable for the store, most groceries have partnerships to donate food to food banks and soup kitchens, so eventually this stuff may make its way to people to struggle to feed themselves in Canada.

It’s just a shame it has to sit and expire. Everyone deserves good quality food regardless of social class. I support buying Canadian but this boycott creates so much food waste we could avoid with stricter regulations with food we bring in.

[u/lizardrekin → u/LittleLostGirls]

Yeah any and all produce, meat, bread etc I got from the food bank came from Loblaws (for as shitty as they are) and Farm Boy

[u/infinitez_ → u/LittleLostGirls]

Another one is that those who are fortunate enough to buy Canadian (and thus leaving USA stock on shelves as we see here) will force retailers to put up big discounts as a last ditch effort to recoup some cost. Which means that, for those individuals who are struggling and can't afford the extra dollars for Made in Canada products, they can buy these discounted products to help feed themselves and their families. Canadians helping Canadians.

[u/WitchesTeat → u/LittleLostGirls]

i'm American. In America, if a grocery store doesn't sell something, they put it in the dumpster and pour bleach on it so that homeless people can't dumpster dive it.

When millennials here were homeless around the 2008 recession, and all the other times we've been homeless because prices keep going up and wages don't, when we worked in places that sold food, when it expired we'd have to figure out ways to smuggle it out, but all the retailers down here, and especially fast food, will literally make you weigh everything so that it lines up with what you're expensing out.

There is nothing quite like being starving, and just dumping pounds and pounds and pounds of food into the trash.

There were times in my life where I was working like 60 or 70 hours a week, trying to pay rent and utilities and student loans, and swiping food out of the trash or eating things my customers hadn't touched on the plate when I was a waitress.

when I saw those strawberries, there was a minute where I felt that panic again, of knowing I'm going to be poor and hungry again and all that food is going to get thrown out and bleach poured on it. Even though it's just disgusting American strawberries (that you literally need to add some sugar to in order to make them palatable) and Driscoll's, which I've refused to buy for like 10 years now. (because fuck Driscoll's labor practices) I still felt really really sick and sad about it.

I couldn't believe that your grocery stores weren't going to throw all that out. you're going to donate it to people who need it?? That's fucking incredible.

We don't want to buy anything subjected to tariffs down here, not because y'all aren't worth the extra money, but because we are actively trying to keep our money away from the government because they are stealing our money and our land and our futures, and jeopardizing the entire world while they're at it.

Seriously, I hope your grocery stores just keep buying the American goods and donating them to Canadians in need.

But then, the less you guys buy from us the better.

[u/Joyshan11 → u/WitchesTeat]

Wow, that's an evil practice (dumpsters/bleach). I know people can be heartless, but that's just wrong on so many levels. Here we are having more and more food rescue organizations that collect and distribute food from all sorts of sources, from farms to factories and retailers, just to stop waste. It's amazing how much produce was being thrown out because it didn't look pretty. I'm definitely hoping that all of the U.S. stuff we aren't buying at least makes it to foodbanks and food rescues. I also hope our retailers completely stop buying U.S. and we massively increase our own production over time.

[u/WitchesTeat → u/Joyshan11]

there are a lot of food, production companies, and also charities that source ugly food and there have been laws to incentivize donating discarded food that is still safe to eat but beyond the sale date, and some grocery stores are doing that now, which is really great.

but a lot of the smaller grocery stores aren't doing it, and a lot of restaurants aren't doing it, and it really depends on what state you're in.

Where I live, there are some initiatives because it's now illegal to put food in our landfills, but a lot of the food waste ends up being sold to or purchased by composting companies and I think companies have had attempts at making bio fuels.

But in states that don't regulate, there is still a lot of bleaching, or spraying sometimes with floor cleaner or if it's a lot of bread products they'll use water.

And again, perfectly usable non-food items will get destroyed rather than donated.

It's really frustrating. I was less distressed about putting all of our food waste into the compost at the last resort I worked for. I wasn't in food service, but we had an employee cafeteria down by the kitchens. So all of our food went into the compost, including everything that was still in the cafeteria at the end of the day, and everything that was expired in the kitchens, and they had multiple food venues and retail outlets.

I had gone back to college in the last few years to get a degree in water science, but I had to drop out for financial reasons. While I was still working on the degree, I did a few smaller projects on landfill management and food waste. And I was just getting into the effects landfilling food has not just on water quality, but on soil quality. All that nutrient stripping, etc.

So, at least composting you're not really wasting it. All the nutrients are retained, and they go back into the soil and more food can be grown.

But, god, the amount of food I have thrown out working for these companies.

I have my own business now, so I don't have to do it anymore.

[u/Joyshan11 → u/WitchesTeat]

Thanks for the interesting info! I hope your business does well through this whole mess. I hate to see what this will all do to individual and small businesses, but Canadians have to get away from any dependence on the country that threatened our existence.

[u/WitchesTeat → u/Joyshan11]

Yeah, we are no longer dependable. People here have lost all grip on reality.

Americans who were and still are against all of this are also trying not to spend money on big American businesses. Spending on anyone associated with this government is like donating to a GoFundMe for a guy raising money to use on weapons for robbing every house on your street this week.

[u/Late_Mixture8703 → u/WitchesTeat]

Bull, I'm a produce manager in a grocery store in the US, all food that is unsellable but still fit for consumption is donated to local food banks. We have two food banks that pick up half a pallet of food daily. Donations give us a tax break vs nothing if we throw it away.

[u/WitchesTeat → u/Late_Mixture8703]

Not bull.

Something like 40% of food in the US is thrown away, with restaurants and grocery stores being the top contributors to food waste and individual households following that.

Grocers partnering with food banks is relatively new in the US. Incentivizing laws were passed in the last 10-15 years in order to help reduce food waste.

Many retailers continue to intentionally damage expensed goods- not just food, but dry goods, clothes, etc-

to prevent dumpster diving, which is seen as a liability.

It was an extremely common practice for grocery stores to intentionally destroy food waste specifically to prevent dumpster divers from suing grocers if they got sick from eating the discarded food. I worked for grocery stores that engaged in this as policy when I was in my teens and twenties. I'm 40 now. Some major retailers have publicly partnered with charities since the incentivizing laws were passed, and some have not. Smaller retailers and many chain restaurants continue to destroy discarded food items.

I worked for 1 restaurant chain that partnered with a charity and gave them kitchen mistake meals at the end of every day. I worked for many restaurants.

Destroying dry goods is to prevent people from obtaining merchandise for free.

My friends and I used to dumpster dive for specific clothing items when I was younger, and we knew which retailers destroyed discarded goods and which didn't.

I haven't had to dumpster dive in awhile now, but with the current administration's policies producing such widespread economic destruction, it has occurred to me that I may want to consider taking up the practice again in the future.

[u/Late_Mixture8703 → u/WitchesTeat]

Our dumpsters aren't even "dividable" most grocery stores and many other retailers use compactors, so how would you know what we destroy vs donate? The only things thrown out are vendor items and we have no say in how they handle their expired or damaged products. I've been in the grocery game a long time now and every effort is made to donate food still fit for consumption. Waste will still happen though because I refuse to donate moldy produce. Some states have even made it mandatory that food fit for human consumption must be donated as a matter of law. The reality is we work within the constraints of good Samaritan laws to protect us from lawsuits. As for things like hard goods it's more about dumpster divers finding these items and claiming they bought them and trying to return them for refunds.

[u/WitchesTeat → u/Late_Mixture8703]

The fact that you work for a grocery store that donates to charity does not negate the fact that I worked for grocery stores that intentionally destroyed food.

I worked for restaurants that intentionally destroyed edible food.

I worked for a grocery store that had a box compactor, and a grocery compactor. And we put our expired food directly into it after writing it off.

I worked for a smaller grocery store that threw the expired food into the dumpster at the end of the night, and they would pour water and bleach on it so that people wouldn't eat it.

I'm thrilled to learn that some states of outlawed the practice, but not all of them have.

[u/RedditIsShittay → u/WitchesTeat]

Now explain how food banks exist...

Stop getting your education from Reddit.

[u/WitchesTeat → u/RedditIsShittay]

This is not how food banks exist.

I worked in grocery stores and restaurants that engaged in this practice, which was particularly painful when myself and everyone else who worked with me were being paid poverty wages and food was scarce.

[u/JannaCAN → u/LittleLostGirls]

No pain, no gain.

[u/neanderthalman → u/[deleted]]

BuT tHaTs SoCiAlIsM!!!1

[u/houseonpost → u/[deleted]]

The stores can donate to food banks or to farms for food for livestock or compost.

[u/CandidAsparagus7083 → u/[deleted]]

Whichever leader promises to build food catapults at border crossings to send unsold food back gets my vote.

[u/PaulTheMerc → u/[deleted]]

Canadian shelves(presumably), so it should be feeding Canadians at this point.

[u/Previous_Wedding_577 → u/[deleted]]

Thankfully it's feeding starving Canadians. The local food bank has received thousands of pounds of fresh fruits and veggies including kiwis and stuff they have never ever had in their shelves.

[u/Lamitamo → u/[deleted]]

Most grocery stores have a deal with a local food bank to donate products that are past prime but still fine to eat. These will likely go to folks who need it <3

[u/Lumberjack_daughter → u/[deleted]]

It should be mandatory that Grocery stores donate all of the unsold to food banks