I worked four years at a small A&P supermarket and the food we tossed in the garbage was simply amazing. I remember one time the manager ordered too much store brand bread and once it expired, I tossed about 7 shopping carts full right into the dumpster! People in cars were just looking at me in amazement. We were a small supermarket and not some 24 hour superstore but let me tell you, we would discard an entire shopping cart of produce, meat and dairy each and every day!
Probably one of the biggest crimes out there is the back of each supermarket. Today, food is tossed into a strong locked steel container that cannot be broken into. Otherwise, half the people going into the store would be in the back pulling out free food. I think hundreds of people could be fed each day from what is discarded in one single container.
The reason all this food is dumped is due to state and local laws that require food to be fresh at all times. We were fined for selling deep discounted produce that was just begining to age! It just isn't produce and meat but dented cans and even expired water must be trashed! Often times vendors would do the dumping for us by removing their expired products off the shelf.
I can just imagine how much food was discarded after hurricane Sandy.