Dive Brief:
- The U.S. loses up to 47% of its edible seafood supply each year, mainly because of consumer waste, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) published in "Global Environmental Change."
- The study examined the amount of seafood lost each year at every stage of the supply chain as well as at the consumer level.
- The research estimates that of the annual supply of 4.7 billion pounds of seafood, 2.3 billion pounds are wasted, 330 million of which are lost in distribution and retail with 1.3 billion pounds at the consumer level.
Dive Insight:
"In the U.S. and around the world, people are being advised to eat more seafood, but overfishing, climate change, pollution, habitat destruction and the use of fish for other purposes besides human consumption threaten the global seafood supply," according to a news release.
Last week, the USDA and EPA instituted the first-ever national food waste reduction goal, calling for a 50% reduction by 2030. The federal government will work together with private and public organizations, the private sector, and other local governments to determine ways to reduce food waste, particularly the amount of food that heads to the landfill.