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Abstract
This report provides the latest estimates by USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) on the amount and value of food loss in the United States. These estimates are for more
than 200 individual foods using ERS’s Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data. In 2010, an
estimated 31 percent or 133 billion pounds of the 430 billion pounds of food produced
was not available for human consumption at the retail and consumer levels. This amount
of loss totaled an estimated $161.6 billion, as purchased at retail prices. For the first time, ERS estimates of the calories associated with food loss are presented in this report. An estimated 141 trillion calories per year, or 1,249 calories per capita per day, in the food supply in 2010 went uneaten. The top three food groups in terms of share of total value of food loss are meat, poultry, and fish (30 percent); vegetables (19 percent); and dairy products (17 percent). The report also provides a brief discussion of the economic issues
behind postharvest food loss.