ABSTRACT
Food pantries play a key role in addressing food insecurity, relying, in part, on foods nearing their sell-by dates to address needs. Yet, little is known about pantries’ food waste-related practices and policies. In an online survey of 84 pantries in North Carolina, fresh produce was reported as the most discarded category and spoilage as the primary reason for discarding food. Most pantries (87%) had an extension dates policy for guiding decisions related to foods past their sell-by date. These findings demonstrate that, while many pantries strive to mitigate waste, broader implementation of food waste-related policies may be beneficial.
Acknowledgements
We thank the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina for disseminating the survey and the food pantries for their responses. This work would not have been possible without them.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.