Especially when the alternative is chucking boxloads of beef, seafood, and produce. Procedural failings like this one are even harder to stomach in this time of great need. How much food could nine employees have prevented from reaching that end? But they reportedly had nine employees guarding the dumpster before the police arrived. The store may say that moving that food from the cases would have required too much labor. For example, they could have called their local food recovery organization for an emergency pickup or even brought food outside to keep it at temperature. Once it became clear that the power outage would threaten so much food, the store management could have been more proactive. What I mean to say is–come on!! Twelve police officers guarding a store’s trash!?! Not a great use of civic resources to have a dozen cops ensure that a store’s trash doesn’t become any citizens’ treasure. But protecting the contents of a dumpster would seem to be pretty widely accepted as a subpar use of police officers. There’s so much legitimate debate these days on the role of the police. Hence the frustration outside the store, which led to the police being called. Juxtaposed against that need, the edible abundance being dumped was incredibly galling, especially for those looking to feed hungry families, friends, and neighbors. Meanwhile, the pandemic-induced hunger and the powerlessness (literal and figurative) of many Portlanders only made the saga worse. Yet, that common sense, five-second-rule-ish approach to edibility will never trump the bureaucratic, “time and temperature” rules of a grocery chain. Yet, those food safety rules contain, to borrow a phrase the store used, an “abundance of caution.” It is likely that the food was fine, and would remain so after being discarded, given the winter freeze that had prompted this entire saga. Even though it was freezing outside, it wasn’t in the store. At that point, the store sees that food as inedible and a potential food safety hazard. Their power outage (no backup generator?) meant that refrigerator and freezer temperatures inched above the allowed temperature. The Fred Meyer, like any chain, would have strict food safety guidelines. Yet, the edibility of the tossed food gets at the heart of the matter. Stores also don’t want people digging through their trash, which is technically trespassing (if food is in a Dumpster). The conflict here stems from the words “edible” and “non-profits.” With the latter, supermarkets are free from liability–as outlined in the Good Samaritan Act–only if excess food is donated to a 501(c)(3) hunger relief org. Second, there are no real winners here.Įdible food should never end up in the trash it should be donated via non-profits to those in need or, at worst, composted. People snag discarded food for themselves and the many free fridges around the city.įirst, what a sad saga, in an especially hard time for so many Portlanders and Americans. Police guard trash, but eventually leave. Store employees prevent dumpster diving and call police when people refuse to leave. Word spreads in city where 300,000 lack power. Here goes: Portland store loses power due to snow and ice storm. The author encouraged readers to think in terms of processes and not in a binary waste/not waste manner.When 12 police officers are guarding a food-laden Dumpster, it’s worth reassessing the chain of events. Then he gets into his ethnographic research of being in several UK homes and observing the interaction with food and its disposition.ĭespite its limited scope, this was an interesting academic paper which enabled me to re-think about food and waste and the different processes involved. So it is important to remember that this book has a deliberately limited scope. Uses terms such as "residual categories" and the "malleability of waste."įocuses on the end of the food chain and household food waste via household processes and culture. This is essentially an academic ethnographic paper set in England. Starts by analyzing food waste from a theoretical perspective to ascertain the various elements in society (including technology, socio-cultural mores, economic systems, societal organizations) which lead to wasting of food.Įxtensive bibliography at the end to encourage further research.
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