IFT Keynote: The next food revolution is going to be about what we're not eating
Next - in case you missed it - are some highlights from the keynote (delivered Sunday morning) from former Trader Joe's president Doug Rauch.
If we are going to have any hope of feeding 9bn people by 2050 we have to address the "staggering" fact that we don't actually consume between one third and 40% of the food we produce, he said.
"The next food revolution is going to be about food we're not eating; utilizing wholesome food we're already producing."
Food waste occurs for different reasons, he observed, with most of the wastage in developing countries occurring before food reaches consumers, while the bulk of the problem in developed countries is food that consumers throw away.
And the food industry had done a "horrible job" of confusing us with date coding systems, he said, with 'sell by' dates being confused for expiration dates, and arbitrary best before dates prompting consumers to throw away tons of good food.
One in six Americans is food insecure
But much of his speech focused on hunger, which historically had meant a shortage of calories, but in many developed nations now meant a shortage of nutrients, he said, with the paradoxical result that a growing number of Americans are both obese and malnourished.
"One in six Americans is now food insecure. When I first found that out it just seemed inconceivable."
Rauch, who left Trader Joe's in 2008, is currently involved in a non-profit initiative called the Daily Table, which will sell fresh-cooked, healthy meals at competitive prices in neighborhoods where such options are scarce using produce donated by grocery stores due to cosmetic defects or just past its sell-by-date.
