Why US food banks receive just 13 percent of surplus food from grocery stores
- Low-income Americans need more help getting enough to eat, but not much of the food retailers that sell groceries could potentially donate is given away.
- Only 13% of it ends up at food banks, according to a 2026 report produced by ReFED, a nonprofit that studies and tries to prevent food waste.
- The rest is composted; turned into animal feed, biofuels and other industrial products; sold at a deep discount shortly before its use-by date; or disposed of in landfills and incinerators.
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- Low-income Americans need more help getting enough to eat, but not much of the food retailers that sell groceries could potentially donate is given away.
- Only 13% of it ends up at food banks, according to a 2026 report produced by ReFED, a nonprofit that studies and tries to prevent food waste.
- The rest is composted; turned into animal feed, biofuels and other industrial products; sold at a deep discount shortly before its use-by date; or disposed of in landfills and incinerators.
Sources: The Independent