The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1917-04-12
GREAT FOOD WASTE
MUCH OF LOSS PREvENTABLE,
FEDERAL EXPERTS DECLARE.
Vast Amount of Nourishir5 Matter
Thrown Away Shown in Fats and
heterogeneous Material Recovered
From Garbage.

| NIuO9CUOuS waterfall nCSONCICu
From Garbage.
Good food heedlessly thrown into
garbage pals, food allowed to spoil
in the household, food ruined by i'm
proper cooking, and food destroyed
the heavy items in the 100000, 900
annual waste OF food in homes in this
country cited recently by William G..
Redfield, Secretary Of Agriculture,
says bulletin just issued by the
Secretary's department In house
hold waste is not included the losses
of food allowed to spoil in transit or
in the hands of producers or dealers.
Much of this $7O0,O0O,OOO waste of
food, the dietary specialists OF the
department say, is easily prevent
able. This preventable waste is
stated as follows .a
That vast amounts of nourishing
material are thrown out from Ameri-
can kitchens and so made useless for
human, consumption, is we'll estab-
lished by the returns from garbage
and fertilizer plants, showing the
amount of fats and heterogeneous ma
terial recovered from city garbage.
Much of the food is thrown out,
the specialists say, because so many
people do not know how to utilize
leftovers or will not take the trouble
to keep and prepare them. The spe-
cialists point out that leftover cereals
can be reheated or combined with
fruits, meats, or vegetables into ap-
Ipetizing side dishes.
"Perishable foods are made dan
gerous or inedible in households be-
cause they. are exposed unnecessarily
to heat, germs, dust. dirt or to flies,
and other insects.
Much milk spells quickly because
! it is Kept uncovered in warm kitch-
ems Close observance of the doc
trine, Keep perishable food espe-
cially milk, cool, clean, and covered
continuously may make a striking
difference in the food bills of many
families.
TMany housewives who complain
that children and adults will not eat
/ breakfast cereals fail to realize that
! the cereals they serve are undercook-
ed scorched, or Improperly seasoned,
and thus made unpalatable. Most of
the cheaper foods requires careful
seasoning and preparation to. be fully
appetizing. In many households,
the specialists believe, proper att
tention to the cooking of these cheap
and desirable afoods will increase
greatly their consumption and thus
reduce considerable the use OF more
expensive foods eaten instead OF
cereals.
Many families take pride in scrY-
ing lavish and overbountiful meals.
Such meals lead inevitably to waste
Of food on the table and to overeatr
ing, which often impairs health and
efficiency. The sane standard, Eat
enough food and no more rigidly fo:-
lowed, would reduce greatly food bills
in many homes, and, at the same
time, tend to improve the physical
condition of all members Of the
household" ... ,s. ...
For partial immediate relief evr
cry individual and community should
consider earnestly the matter of food
conservation and the limitation of
waste AS nation we seem TO have
disdain of economiZing. In many
homes there is strong feeling~that
it is only decent to provide more
food than will be eaten and that it
/ is demeaning to reckon closely. The
experts of the Department Of Agri-
culture report that the dietary studies
made by them point to an annual food
waste of about S7O0,O00,00O. OF
course, the waste in families of very
limited means is slight, but in I
/ families of moderate and ample
means the waste is considerable Ey7
en- If the estimate were reduced by
| half the waste would still be enor--
nous. 9
"The food waste in the household,
| the experts assert, results in large
measure from bad preparation and
bad cooking, from improper care and
! handling, and, in well-to-do families
| from serving an undue number of
courses and an over-abundant sup
! ply and failing to save and utilize
1.-The food not consumed. AS an inr-
stance of improper handling, it is dis
covered that in the preparation Of
potatoes 20 per cent of the edible
portion in many cases is discarded"
!