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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.

Federal dietary guidance advises Americans to consume more vegetables and fruits because most Americans do not consume the recommended quantities or variety. Food prices, along with taste, convenience, income, and awareness of the link between diet and health, shape food choices. We used 2008 Nielsen Homescan data to estimate the average price at retail stores of a pound and an edible cup equivalent (or, for juices, a pint and an edible cup equivalent) of 153 commonly consumed fresh and processed fruits and vegetables. We found that average prices ranged from less than 20 cents per edible cup equivalent to more than $2 per edible cup equivalent. We also found that, in 2008, an adult on a 2,000- calorie diet could satisfy recommendations for vegetable and fruit consumption in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (amounts and variety) at an average price of $2 to $2.50 per day, or approximately 50 cents per edible cup equivalent.

USDA’s Economic Research Service maintains the only time-series data on U.S. food availability in the country, a series that now spans 100 years. The data play a key role in monitoring the potential for the food supply to meet the nutritional needs of Americans and in examining historical consumption trends. A look at 100 years of American eating reveals the technological, political, social, and economic forces affecting food availability.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) increased attention to food imports from China is an indicator of safety concerns as imported food becomes more common in the United States. U.S. food imports from China more than tripled in value between 2001 and 2008. Addressing safety risks associated with these imports is difficult because of the vast array of products from China, China’s weak enforcement of food safety standards, its heavy use of agricultural chemicals, and its considerable environmental pollution. FDA import refusal data highlight food safety problems that appear to recur in trade and where FDA has focused its import alerts and monitoring efforts. FDA refusals of food shipments from China suggest recurring problems with “filth,” unsafe additives, labeling (typically introduced in food processing and handling), and veterinary drug residues in fish and shellfish (introduced at the farm). Chinese authorities try to control food export safety by certifying exporters and the farms that supply them. However, monitoring such a wide range of products for the different hazards that can arise at varying points in the supply chain is a difficult challenge for Chinese and U.S. officials.

A certain amount of food in supermarkets is deemed unusable (“food loss”) because of moisture loss, spoilage, and other causes. This study analyzed updated food loss estimates for fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, and seafood obtained through a competitive grant with the Perishables Group, Inc. This independent consulting firm compared supplier shipment data with point-of-sale data from six large national and regional supermarket retailers to identify loss in 2005 and 2006. The new estimates, when incorporated into the ERS Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data, had little impact on aggregate per capita food loss estimates in 2006 because the new estimates were, on average, close to the previous loss assumptions. The new estimates increased annual per capita estimates of fresh fruit available at the retail level by 0.7 pounds (0.6 percent), 4.2 pounds (2.7 percent) for fresh vegetables, and 4.8 pounds (2.7 percent) for fresh meat, poultry, and seafood. The commodity-specific food loss estimates are more accurate than in previous years.

Using import data from the U.S. Census Bureau and import-refusal data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), this study examines patterns of U.S. imports together with products and countries that register recurring viola­ tions of FDA import regulations. Results indicate faster import-growth trends for consumer-ready foods. While most bulk-food commodities and perishable high-value products, such as fruit and vegetables, are sourced from neighboring countries in the Western Hemisphere, processed foods, many spices, and other tropical products are sourced globally with rising import shares for many countries in Asia. A correlation is also noted between rising imports and a higher number of refusals for products and countries registering fast import growth.

This report examines U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data on refusals of food offered for importation into the United States from 1998 to 2004. Although the data do not necessarily reflect the distribution of risk in foods, the study found that import refusals highlight food safety problems that appear to recur in trade and where the FDA has focused its import alerts, examinations (e.g., sampling), and other monitoring efforts. The data show some food industries and types of violations are consistent sources of problems both over time and in comparison with previous studies of more limited data. The three food industry groups with the most violations were vegetables (20.6 percent of total violations), fishery and seafood (20.1 percent), and fruits (11.7 percent). Violations observed over the entire time period include sanitary issues in seafood and fruit products, unsafe pesticide residues in vegetables, and unregistered processes for canned food products in all three industries.

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the Nation’s second largest food and nutrition assistance program. In 2006, it operated in over 101,000 public and nonprofit private schools and provided over 28 million low-cost or free lunches to children on a typical school day at a Federal cost of $8 billion for the year. This report provides background information on the NSLP, including historical trends and participant characteristics. It also addresses steps being taken to meet challenges facing administrators of the program, including tradeoffs between nutritional quality of foods served, costs, and participation, as well as between program access and program integrity.

This report examines major trends in the amount of food available for consumption in the United States between 1970 and 2005 using data from the ERS Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System. The report also estimates whether Americans are meeting Federal dietary recommendations for each of the major food groups by comparing the data with dietary recommendations in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the MyPyramid Food Guidance System. Findings show that Americans do not meet the Federal dietary recommendations. In order to meet them, Americans would need to substantially lower their intake of added fats, refined grains, and added sugars and sweeteners and increase their consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lowfat milk and milk products.

To help Americans meet nutritional requirements while staying within caloric recommendations, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, and fat-free or low-fat milk or milk products. This report provides one view of the potential implications for U.S. agriculture if Americans changed their current consumption patterns to meet some of those guidelines. For Americans to meet the fruit, vegetable, and whole-grain recommendations, domestic crop acreage would need to increase by an estimated 7.4 million harvested acres, or 1.7 percent of total U.S. cropland in 2002. To meet the dairy guidelines, consumption of milk and milk products would have to increase by 66 percent; an increase of that magnitude would likely require an increase in the number of dairy cows as well as increased feed grains and, possibly, increased acreage devoted to dairy production.

Just as international food and agricultural trade has increased over time, food safety has become increasingly important. This paper discusses the economic framework of food safety and international food trade. Both the private and public sectors within individual countries have incentives to improve food safety, and as a result they have taken many actions to reduce food-safety risks, often in the form of private, national, and international standards that they impose of firms. The first half of this article discusses these issues. Differences in standards across borders can lead to trade conflicts whose resolutions depend on the distribution of costs and benefits from the manufacture, trade, and consumption of safe food. The second half of this article presents a framework of three main types of international outcomes arising from differing food-safety standards, with examples from both the public and private sectors.

Will 2005 be the year of the whole grain? According to the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, it should be. For the first time, the Dietary Guidelines have specific recommendations for whole grain consumption separate from those for refined grains. The Guidelines, released in January 2005, encourage all Americans over 2 years old to eat at least three 1-ounce-equivalent servings of whole grains each day, or roughly half of their recommended 5 to 10 daily servings of grains, depending on calorie needs. The goal of this new recommendation is to improve Americans’ health by raising awareness of whole grains and their role in nutritious diets. The Guidelines could also, however, have big impacts on farmers and farm production. How big depends on consumers’ and manufacturers’ responses.

National data on the diets of U.S. children and adolescents indicate they are consuming more fat and saturated fat than recommended while their intakes of fruits and vegetables fall well below recommended levels.

A "healthy school meal environment" not only gives students opportunities to make healthy meal choices but also encourages them to do so. The extent to which a healthy school meal environment affects the success of USDA's school meals programs is currently a subject of debate. The policy strategies that can be used to encourage such an environment for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP)also are subjects of debate. Environmental factors considered to be important include: (1) the nutritional quality, variety, and acceptability of program meals; (2) meal scheduling; (3) nutrition education; and (4) sales of non-USDA ("competitive") foods. Other factors contributing to an overall healthy nutrition environment in the school include a commitment to physical activity, and promotion of healthy eating and physical activity. This issue brief reviews information on the first three of these school meal environment factors. Competitive foods are discussed in a separate issue brief.

This report examines how product liability law treats personal injuries attributed to microbially contaminated foods. The risk of lawsuits stemming from microbial foodborne illness and the resulting court-awarded compensation may create economic incentives for firms to produce safer food. It is not known how many consumers seek compensation for damages from contaminated foods because information about complaints and legal claims involving foodborne illness is not readily accessible, especially for cases that are settled out of court. Reviewing the outcomes of 175 jury trials involving foodborne pathogens, the analysis identifies several factors that influence trial outcomes, while noting that the awards won by plaintiffs tend to be modest.

The Federal Government began allowing food manufacturers to irradiate raw meat and meat products to control pathogenic microorganisms in February 2000. Consumer acceptance of irradiated foods could affect public health because many foodborne illnesses occur when consumers handle or eat meat or poultry contaminated by microbial pathogens. However, food manufacturers have been slow to adopt irradiation, partly because of the perception that relatively few consumers are willing to buy irradiated foods. A recent survey by the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) confirmed this perception: only half of the adult residents of the FoodNet sites were willing to buy irradiated ground beef or chicken, and only a fourth were willing to pay a premium for these products, which cost more to produce than comparable nonirradiated products. These findings suggest that the impact of food irradiation on public health will be limited unless consumer preferences change, perhaps in response to educational messages about the safety and benefits of food irradiation.

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) finances about 13.5 percent of its budget outlays through user fees for overtime and unscheduled meat and poultry inspections. User fees play an increasingly important role in financing government programs, and FSIS has frequently requested expanded authority to charge user fees for more of its operations. Congress has consistently rejected the FSIS requests and has placed important restrictions on fees and the uses of fee revenue at those agencies that have been granted more extensive user fee authority. This report surveys the application of user-fees for financing meat and poultry inspection programs in other countries; reviews user-fee systems in other Federal agencies, particularly those with food and agricultural missions or regulatory responsibilities; and discusses the relevant economics literature on the use and design of user fees. Finally, we suggest several elements that should underlie the structure of user fees for meat and poultry inspection, should such a program be introduced. e

This paper explores methodological and demographical reasons for differences in estimated social costs from foodborne Escherichia coli O157:H7 between the United States and United Kingdom (UK). Depending on the evaluation method, estimated U.S. costs average $10,000-17,000/case while estimated costs for the largest reported UK milk-borne outbreak are $280,000/case.