The Shocking Truth About Wasted Food In Supermarkets — And How We’re Taking Action, One Store At A Time…

I used to walk the bright, expansive aisles of my local supermarket with a sense of awe. The pyramids of gleaming red apples, the endless racks of freshly baked bread, the coolers packed with perfect yogurt cups and tightly wrapped meats. It felt like a modern-day testament to abundance, a celebration of HaShem’s provision.

But then, a question began to nag at me, a quiet whisper in the back of my mind as I passed the day-old bakery cart: Where does it all go?

I’d heard the staggering statistic—that nearly 40% of food in America goes uneaten. But it felt distant, abstract. Until I met a store manager named Mark, who, after I built a relationship with him through our synagogue, finally pulled back the curtain.

“It’s the date labels,” he confessed, his voice a mix of frustration and resignation. “’Sell by,’ ‘Best by,’ ‘Use by.’ Most people think they mean the food is expired or unsafe. But they don’t. They’re about peak quality, often set by manufacturers, not safety. But we can’t sell it after that date. The liability fear is too great. So…” He gestured with his head toward the back of the store. “It all goes in the dumpster.”

My heart sank. I thought of the commandments that are the very fabric of our faith.

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger…” (Leviticus 19:9-10).

This wasn’t a field of wheat, but it was a field of plenty. And we weren’t leaving the gleanings; we were systematically destroying them. We were ignoring the wisdom of Proverbs 19:17: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.” We were throwing away an opportunity to lend to HaShem Himself.

The tragedy became vividly clear in my mind: In the chilled back room of the store, employees were tossing cartons of eggs that were still perfectly good, simply because the “sell by” date was that day. At that very moment, a few miles away, a young father named Eliyahu was cracking his last two eggs into a bowl to split between his three children for dinner, praying it would be enough.

The bakery was discarding dozens of loaves of bread—still soft, still nourishing—to make room for the next morning’s batch. And in a small apartment, an elderly Holocaust survivor, Chava, was eating a dry piece of toast for dinner, her fixed income making fresh bread a luxury she could rarely afford.

This disconnect isn't just a logistical failure; it's a spiritual one. Our Messiah, Yeshua, looked at a hungry crowd and didn’t say, “Sorry, the best-by date has passed.” He took the loaves and fish, gave thanks to the Father, and fed them all (Matthew 14:13-21). His command to us is clear: "Give them something to eat.”

The hidden reason for this waste isn’t malice. It’s a system built on misunderstanding, fear, and a lack of a better way.

But friends, this is where the story turns from tragedy to hope. This is where we get to step in and become agents of tikkun olam—repairers of the world.

I started with one store. With Mark’s permission, I connected him with a local food rescue organization. Now, instead of going into the dumpster, that day-old bread goes into a waiting car. The eggs, the milk, the slightly bruised but perfectly edible fruits and vegetables—they all get a second chance.

I’ve had the privilege of being one of those drivers. The joy is not in the transporting, but in the delivering. I’ve seen the look of relief on the face of a director at a women’s shelter when I drop off a crate of fresh, healthy food she didn’t have in her budget. I’ve seen kids at an after-school program light up when they get a snack of real yogurt and berries instead of another bag of chips.

The system is changing, one relationship, one store, one delivery at a time. And you can be a part of it.

Here’s how we can stop this, together:

1.  Educate & Advocate: Share the truth about date labels with your friends and family. “Best by” usually just means “best by.” Trust your senses—smell and sight are often better guides.

2.  Volunteer: Find a local food rescue organization. They need people to help pick up food from stores and deliver it to non-profits. It takes just a little time, but the impact is immediate and profound. Organizations like [Food Rescue US] or [412 Food Rescue] make it incredibly easy to sign up for shifts.

3.  Speak Up: Gently and respectfully ask the manager at your favorite grocery store what they do with their unsold food. Encourage them to partner with a food rescue group. Your voice as a customer matters.

4.  Donate: Support the organizations that are building the infrastructure of compassion—the refrigerators, the trucks, the coordinators who make these rescues possible.

We are called to be a light to the nations. What brighter light is there than transforming fear into faith, waste into abundance, and hunger into hope? We can honor HaShem by respecting His creation and obey His command to love our neighbor by making sure our community’s gleanings are gathered and given.

Let’s be the generation that redefines “abundance” not as having more than we need, but as sharing all that we have.

B’ezrat HaShem (With G-d’s help),

[Your Name]