Starbucks to Donate Uneaten Food

[Ben]

First off, good on Starbucks. No matter if you like 'em or hate 'em, they're doing this with their own money, and I highly approve of the food being used versus just going in the dumpster. I wish what Starbucks is doing were more widespread.

The part of the article that intrigued me though, was the mention of "food insecurity". Is there really anyone in the US who is truly "food insecure"? To me that means that you are actually stressing about if you're going to eat tomorrow. Some people, who are homeless by choice may go through that, but otherwise there are all kinds of safety nets for people, via both government and private charities.

I went to the USDA link, where they defined "food insecurity" as:

Food insecure—At times during the year, these households were uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. Food-insecure households include those with low food security and very low food security.

    14.0 percent (17.4 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2014.
    Essentially unchanged from 14.3 percent in 2013.

Low food security—These food-insecure households obtained enough food to avoid substantially disrupting their eating patterns or reducing food intake by using a variety of coping strategies, such as eating less varied diets, participating in Federal food assistance programs, or getting emergency food from community food pantries.

That's not food insecure to me. As per the last sentence,  you're still getting food. You're just taking an extra step (EBT), or going to a food pantry instead of the grocery store.

I guess I'm picking nits, but it always bothers me when I see "starvation in the US" type stories. Go live in Ethiopia if you want to know what real "food insecurity" is.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016/03/23/starbucks-pledges-to-donate-all-uneaten-food-to-hungry-by-2021/?intcmp=hpbt4

http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics.aspx

[BlueStarLizzard]

I approve.

It also reminds me of something that happened back in one of my collage classes. A young lady who worked at a local bagel joint was trying to start a charity project where the store would donate the daily leftovers to local homeless shelters. Unfortunately, she was prohibited from doing this, not by the store but by government (it was either local or state) health department policy that required the old food to be thrown out rather than distributed elsewhere, even if it was just taken over to the local homeless shelters.

I'm not sure if it ever got resolved or they just gave up, but I remember it being an eye opener for some of the young liberal airheads in the class that government was often stupid.

[griz]

First, thanks to Starbucks for not just tossing it out.

Second, I certainly agree.  When you can be "poor", "food insecure", and overweight at the same time, well, it tells me that we don't know what the word poor means.

[dogmush]

I predict that regulations on exactly how and where food that is "left over" from a US restaurant will severely hamper or kill this good idea.

I also predict that someone will get sick, and have eaten free "old" food, and even without any credible link between the two, will sue Starbucks over it.

[French G.]

Panera does that, I asked about it, church missions and places like group homes for developmentally disabled adults are happy to get it. I asked Sheets about their nightly food trashing, they have to throw it out. If I could have gotten it next step would be buy hogs.

[Brad Johnson]

Meh. Gotta play the grumpy codger pessimist on this one.

Store managers will have directives to prepare just enough overage  to keep the PR up but will be punished for going over X amount in Y period. Also, it'll last just as long as no scumbag decides to sue for foodborne illness (which I predict will take about two weeks...). Finally, I can see nosey health depts stepping in an somehow demanding food distibution safety controls which will make the practice untenable in business terms.

Starbucks knows all of the above. They also know how to market the hell out of sentiment, image, and back-patting. It's a nice PR campaign that will have little, if any, real world benefit beyond Starbucks' bottom line.

Brad

[Ben]

Yeah, what's that Reagan said about government? :)

[freakazoid]

I approve.

It also reminds me of something that happened back in one of my collage classes. A young lady who worked at a local bagel joint was trying to start a charity project where the store would donate the daily leftovers to local homeless shelters. Unfortunately, she was prohibited from doing this, not by the store but by government (it was either local or state) health department policy that required the old food to be thrown out rather than distributed elsewhere, even if it was just taken over to the local homeless shelters.

I'm not sure if it ever got resolved or they just gave up, but I remember it being an eye opener for some of the young liberal airheads in the class that government was often stupid.

I use to work at a grocery store. The fried chicken/chinese food department in the back would have to throw out huge trash can loads of food at the end of the day. Said they couldn't just give it away to places because of government regulations.

[Perd Hapley]

Panera does that, I asked about it, church missions and places like group homes for developmentally disabled adults are happy to get it.

Yeah, they've been doing that for years.

I presume these places are only donating baked goods (at least that's what I've seen from Panera). Probably different regulations from giving away meats, and other types of foods.

[Brad Johnson]

Yeah, they've been doing that for years.

I presume these places are only donating baked goods (at least that's what I've seen from Panera). Probably different regulations from giving away meats, and other types of foods.

Bingo. In general, baked goods can be stored at room temp and are not prone to foodborne nasties so no prob with giveaways. Anything needing hot or cold storage is usually required to be served directly to the consuming party (i.e. dine in or carry out). Transfer to a third party for distribution is verboten by many community health bureaus. Some liability insurance providers also frown on the practice and will refuse to provide coverage in such instances.

Brad

[brimic]

Its interesting that .gov makes it near impossible to charitably give food away from a restaurant yet doesn't come down on an entity like Chipotle where scores of paying customers across the country got food poisoning...

[MechAg94]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/17/houston-charities-complain-new-law-bans-feeding-the-homeless-without-government-permission/

This is from a few years ago.  Liberal Houston city council essentially shut down some private groups who were feeding homeless, etc.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I'm sorry, but can we just have a law that says you cannot sue over getting sick from free food.

It's free *expletive deleted*ing food. Eat at your own risk.

Problem solved.

[dogmush]

I'm sorry, but can we just have a law that says you cannot sue over getting sick from free food.

It's free *expletive deleted*ing food. Eat at your own risk.

Problem solved.

Why do you hate poor people?  You need to check your privilege and realize that without our benevolent protection the poor would be exploited by corporations giving them poisoned free food for profit.

[Ben]

Why do you hate poor people?  You need to check your privilege and realize that without our benevolent protection the poor would be exploited by corporations giving them poisoned free food for profit.

[K Frame]

"Store managers will have directives to prepare just enough overage  to keep the PR up but will be punished for going over X amount in Y period."

Except....

Starbucks prepares no food onsite. It's all prepared centrally and shipped. Food is also apparently auto shipped based on what's being pushed at that time (Cranberry Bliss Bars during the holidays, for instance, which are possibly one of the greatest creations ever in the history of man...), the store's traffic volume, and historically what has been selling at that store. The manager may be able to put some sway on what he's getting, but from what I hear, not a lot.

All the Starbucks people do is take it out of large shipping totes every morning and shelve it.

Castle Key and I used to hit a Starbucks at 5 a.m. as normally the first customers (often banging on the damned doors when they were running late in opening) and would have to dodge around the hampers as they were being unloaded into the cases.

[RevDisk]

As others stated, giving away food is lawsuit bait unless you're donating it to a charity (ie a food bank). As per Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act. Donating directly is legally suicidal unless you are a charity. It has to meet the criteria: “food that meets all quality and labeling standards imposed by federal, state, and local laws and regulations even though the food may not be readily marketable due to appearance, age, freshness, grade, size, surplus, or other conditions.”

Some states or cities have their own regs on top. In short, always launder your food donations through a charity.

[KD5NRH]

Bingo. In general, baked goods can be stored at room temp and are not prone to foodborne nasties so no prob with giveaways.

Two minutes before it goes in the trash can, you can buy it.  AFAIK, most of these cases, it's daily prepped food that won't keep overnight, (or will be obviously not fresh) but it's still considered fine for sale at end of shift.

I'm sorry, but can we just have a law that says you cannot sue over getting sick from free food.

It's free *expletive deleted*ing food. Eat at your own risk.

This.  I've eaten plenty of food that was less fresh than what's getting tossed.  Us poor folks call it "leftovers."  Sometimes it's even stuff that was bought a few minutes before they would have thrown it away, then the part that wasn't dinner that night was kept in a plain old residential refrigerator for 12-48 hours and then eaten.

[Fitz]

when my wife worked at starbucks, she routinely brought *expletive deleted*it home that they were about to throw out. sometimes, it was a fairly significant amount of food. I happily munched on their little sandwiches that were "unfit" for sale

[wmenorr67]

When I worked at McD's we would take home at the end of the night all the food that was to be thrown away.  We weren't supposed to but we did anyway.

[Mannlicher]

I don't really believe that anyone in America is 'food insecure', in any meaningful way.  If they are, it's due to their not accessing existing programs.

From my many years of owning and running restaurants,  there should be virtually NO throw away food.  Paying attention to ordering, projecting usage, proper preps and absent employee theft and fraud, it's supposed to be a wash daily.

[Perd Hapley]

I don't really believe that anyone in America is 'food insecure', in any meaningful way.  If they are, it's due to their not accessing existing programs.

Or because they're little children, and their parents don't care whether they eat or not.

[KD5NRH]

I don't really believe that anyone in America is 'food insecure', in any meaningful way.  If they are, it's due to their not accessing existing programs.

Or they're too lazy to cook for themselves so they waste their food budget on prepared foods for even the most basic stuff.  I've gone two weeks on $20 worth of food in addition to the big buckets of rice and pinto beans.  It's really not that hard to come up with things to add to your primary bulk to keep it interesting.  Ro-Tel and cheese one night, hot dogs (think beanie weenies with rice) another, lo mein and fried whatever's about to expire another.  Hamburger Helper and similar stuff from Big Lots or Dollar General doesn't necessarily have to have meat added to be decent food.

[Mannlicher]

Or they're too lazy to cook for themselves so they waste their food budget on prepared foods for even the most basic stuff.  I've gone two weeks on $20 worth of food in addition to the big buckets of rice and pinto beans.  It's really not that hard to come up with things to add to your primary bulk to keep it interesting.  Ro-Tel and cheese one night, hot dogs (think beanie weenies with rice) another, lo mein and fried whatever's about to expire another.  Hamburger Helper and similar stuff from Big Lots or Dollar General doesn't necessarily have to have meat added to be decent food.

yep.     

At what point do we presume to create yet more government programs to insure that no child is ever hungry?  Is it even the job of government to compensate for poor parenting?  Here in America, we have created the 'Recipient Class', as a result of this effort, and STILL, the problem exists.

[Perd Hapley]

yep.     

At what point do we presume to create yet more government programs to insure that no child is ever hungry? 

Until the country is flat broke, silly.