How Connecticut plans to reduce food waste, both on the farm and at home

Allowing homely fruits and vegetables to compost in the field has some benefits, but many of Connecticut’s 6,000 farms are choosing to process sub-standard produce into wine, jellies and pickeled goods, in addition to donating leftovers to food banks. “We’ll take ugly fruit, there’s nothing wrong with it,” James Arena-DeRosa, president and CEO of Foodshare, told students. Foodshare moves over six million pounds of donated shelf stable and perishable food into Connecticut communities every year, Arena-DeRosa said.   Christine Rice, clinical fellow at the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, said the program has been looking into the legal barriers to food recovery for over five years now. She said liability concerns often prevent grocery stores, restaurants and manufacturers from donating. Inconsistent labeling between states also leads to many consumers trashing perfectly good food, Rice said. According to the clinic’s research, up to 84 percent of people have thrown away food past it’s supposed expiration date regardless of whether or not it was still edible.