Fighting food waste and hunger through food rescue

Millions of people in America struggle to get enough food every day. Meanwhile, we throw away billions of pounds of good food. As the largest food rescue organization in the nation, we're fixing this problem.

We connect stores, restaurants, farms, and food banks to save nutritious food. Every rescued meal means more food for our neighbors experiencing food insecurity. Together, everyone can access healthy food and prevent food waste.

A child holding a cob of corn and an apple.

A woman holding a yellow crate filled with scallions while standing in a field.

Food waste statistics in the US

In the United States, people waste 92 billion pounds of food annually, equal to 145 billion meals. They throw away over $473 billion worth of food annually. Shockingly, they waste 38% of all the food in America.

92B

pounds of food go to waste each year.

38%

of all food goes unsold or uneaten.

145B

meals' worth of food goes to landfills.

51.7%

of waste comes from the food industry.

What is food waste?

Food waste is perfectly good, safe-to-eat food that gets thrown away instead of eaten. It happens at home, in stores, restaurants, and farms. Food gets wasted because of things like:

Ugly or oddly shaped fruits and veggies
Upcoming sell-by or expiration dates (food is often still safe to eat)
Overproduction at farms
Food getting damaged during transport

The environmental impact

Food waste is a major contributor to climate change. It's responsible for 8% of all global carbon emissions, making up most items in our landfills. Growing food requires lots of water, fuel, and fertilizer.

By preventing food waste and rescuing food at risk of being discarded, we can lessen our environmental impact and ensure that resources are used to nourish communities.

Fuel the fight against food waste!

Join us in our mission to rescue 5 billion pounds of food this year! Contributions to the Food Rescue Fund help keep good food in our community and out of landfills.

Learn more

How food rescue works

Food rescue is one of our most powerful weapons in the fight against food waste. We work side-by-side with food donors like grocery stores, farmers, and restaurants. Together, we find perfectly good food that’s nearing its sell-by date, has cosmetic imperfections, or just didn’t sell.

Instead of ending up in landfills, this food gets a second chance.

Identify

Our team works closely with food donors to intercept food before it goes to landfills.

Pickup

The Feeding America network of food banks and meal programs pick up the donated food.

Sort

Our members carefully inspect the food to make sure it’s fresh and ready to enjoy.

Distribute

The rescued food reaches people experiencing food insecurity.

Benefits of food rescue

By supporting food rescue, you’re helping us create a future where no one experiences food insecurity and good food never goes to waste.

Less waste, more food

We keep good food out of landfills and give our neighbors nourishing meals.

Nourishes communities

We provide fresh fruits, veggies, and food to people visiting food pantries and meal programs.

Stronger food system

We create a more efficient way to get food from farms and stores to families.

Join the movement!

Help us end hunger and stop food waste. Here's how you can get involved:

A mom and her child carrying a frozen turkey.

Donate

Your support helps us rescue even more food.

Donate now ›

Volunteer

Sort, pack, or even glean food from farms.

Get involved ›

Reduce your food waste

Plan meals, store food properly, and get creative with leftovers.

A person holding a box of food and smiling.

Involve your company

Partner with Feeding America to start a food rescue program.

Explore more about food rescue

Check out food rescue stories and learn how you can help reduce food waste.

A man picking up produce at a grocery store.

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Tara Kuczykowski of Deal Seeking Mom shares her pumpkin pie recipe.

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Pasta salad with broccoli and olives created by Beth Moncel of Budget Bytes

One of the biggest ways to reduce food waste is to utilize our leftovers. But I’m not just talking about the leftover casserole from last night’s dinner, but also the leftover ingredients that never made it into the casserole.

Gary Pahl is a farmer who donates produce to his local food pantry

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For Matt West, farming runs in the family. Starting with his great-great-grandparents, every generation in his family has farmed small plots of land, so it was only natural he would follow in their footsteps. But Matt was the first to take his farming to a larger scale.

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The day before Thanksgiving last year, I woke up, made coffee, and routinely opened my subscription of the California Today section of the New York Times. The title of the first featured article was “In a California Valley, Healthy Food Everywhere but on the Table” written by Thomas Fuller.

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Karen Hanner at the White House food waste event

The days of the current White House Administration may be winding down, but they still took time to make history recently by hosting the first White House Roundtable on Food Waste.For all of us at the table, the invitation was validating.

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