Life Cycle Assessment of Food Loss Associated with Current U.S. Consumption Compared to the Recommended USDA Food Patterns

Life cycle assessment was conducted to quantify the potential environmental impacts of food loss associated with current U.S. consumption patterns compared to the recommended USDA Food Patterns (FP). The life cycle estimation of GHG emissions associated with this lost food from production to disposal is, in total, 369 million tons CO₂e per year (3.31 kg CO₂e capita^-1 day^-1) based on the current consumption patterns, and it increases to 427 million tons CO₂e per year (3.83 kg CO₂e capita^-1 day^-1) with adoption of the USDA FP recommendations. Overall environmental impacts from food losses would be greater if U.S. citizens were to adhere to the USDA dietary guidelines with the largest increases observed among the total vegetables, fruit and juices, and milk and dairy food groups. As a conclusion, we call attention to the fact that accumulated reductions of food waste across the entire life cycle will have greater environmental benefits.