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One supermarket chain in Finland has an idea to address food waste – S-market has started holding 'happy hours' for products nearing expiration date
https://theworld.org/stories/2019-10-09/finlands-answer-food-waste-best-actually-good-later-discount
No it's not exceptional. The only thing that is new here is the happy hour in the morning; it's a bit misleading title. I've been buying those -60% deals (-30% becomes -60% after 9 pm) for as long as I can remember from S-market.
Yes, in America it is.
It's due to fear of liability.
I have only ever seen discounted food in small independent markets.
That must be a regional thing (or just not noticed by you). Here in California the large chains have them and have had them for as long as I can remember.
Yours has been my experience as well, up and down the east coast mid-atlantic. Discounts on soon-to-expire perishables at every major supermarket I've shopped at in multiple states. Occasionally I've even seen explicit "Do not refreeze" and "Must consume within 1 to 2 days" type messages alongside the discount sticker.
Where in California? I'm from Sonoma County and nobody in my family nor I have ever seen or heard of this. The closest thing I have heard to this is Safeway having a "we baked too much" discount shelf, but that stuff is still baked the same day.
So Cal. But I’ve seen similar in the Bay Area as well. That’s weird that Safeway wouldn’t have it considering the Albertsons (subsidiary of Safeway) around me do. The Ralph’s (Kroger) near me has it down a hallway to the bathroom rather than out in the open so maybe that’s how your local store(s) are set up.
Damn that sucks. I guess around 25% of our houses food comes with a little yellow sticker on (discounted food is given a little yellow sticker with the old and new price on and the later you went the lower the price would get if it hadnt sold). The food would only be good for a day or two but you used to be able to get some insane deals* if you went at the right time but these days they aren't as good because people were harassing staff and getting into fights so it became more organised.
*I'm talking meat and fish for under 50p a packet. Bread and bakery stuff for 5p. Veg for under 20p.
Food waste is one of the really hard optimisation problems. Unlike most of the environmental issues there isn't an obvious alternative. Some foods just do not last long at all in storage so you almost have to have a full plan of everything you will be eating including the quantities you will need and make sure you stick to the plan the whole time. I imagine most people have a vague idea of what they want when at the supermarket but mostly just wander around and pick random stuff that looks good which means you are almost certain to end up wasting some of it.
For some parts of the supply chain there really is huge gains to be made. There was a documentary recently showing farmers tipping mountains of bananas into a hole because they didn't have the correct curve that the supermarkets require.
Most food waste is at the industrial/restaurant/supply level though.
Part of the problem is cash crops like bananas, can't be locally distributed. They are farmed almost exclusively for export.
We should encourage more diverse and local food stuffs, but ya know, international markets, subsidies etc. etc.
If farmers were subsidized to grow multiple crops for various forms of distribution (local and international) they would... but they aren't so they don't.