1. 40% of food in the U.S. is discarded. https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf

2. Much food is never harvested. A large portion of it is also never taken to market due to blemishes. http://californiawatch.org/health-and-welfare/food-waste-rem...

3. Supermarkets discard about 1/3 of their food due to spoilage, blemishes, and overripeness. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/25/351495274/sup...

Food that doesn't make it for human consumption at the farm/factory level often finds its way as animal feed.

I'm puzzled by your response. You list some stats about waste and that justifies what the guy is doing? Of course it's probably hyperbole but people are working hard to defend this guy's statement.

It seems like a growing number of comments on Hacker News are of this virtue signalling, amplify the problem but offer no solutions variety. This is not the hacker ethos.

The hacker looks at your parent and says woah -- grocers throw away 30% of food? There's a startup opportunity. And when they succeed they accomplish more than all the hand wringing in the world about someone else not doing their part.

Multiplying together, only about 30% of the food grown is actually consumed?

Is that really true? Whoa if so.

Oddly enough, it kind of makes me feel better about food security.

I think even bigger is the 10:1 gains or more you lose feeding crops to animals. If we all went vegan we would almost instantly double our food supply.

Spoiler: I eat meat

Is this low, high or average compared to other countries?

It's fairly normal. In the first world, we waste a lot of food because consumers can afford to be picky or forgetful. In the third world, they waste a lot of food because storage and distribution infrastructure is worse.

With this kind of logic, flushing your toilet is disrespectful to people in Africa with limited access to drinkable water.

Well, it is. So don't be wasting water unnecessarily. If you spent time and money eating at McDonald's why would you throw it away? Our society wastes a lot for sure so try not to. Don't go to McDonald's in the first place.

We don't have a water shortage problem just like we don't have a food shortage problem. We have a water/food distribution problem. Throwing away a burger in the US takes nothing away from Africa.

If you bought this burger, you already gave back to society by paying for it. It has zero influence on the rest of the society whether it goes through your belly or not before being disposed.

Respectful sure, but I could argue I'm disrespectful to the world's poor every time I light a joint, kick back on my couch, pig out on taco Bell, and watch Vikings in my air conditioned condo.

Not the same. You are not throwing out your Taco Bell after the first bite.

I disagree that it's not the same.

1. Whether or not I eat the food is irrelevant to the poor.

2. The amount of food I order is completely up to me. I usually order, and eat, more than I need to survive (because I'm stoned). I revel in the decadence and my ability to buy and eat so much food I'm disgustingly full. I could argue that I do this to "flaunt" my wealth and privilege.

(really, I do it because I grew up dirt poor and hungry, so I gain inordinate pleasure from excess. Probably unhealthy, but it's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to)

This country (USA) throws away $537 Billion retail in food annually. I don't think it's just this guy.

Does trash really have a $ value? ;)

As Dave Chapelle would put it; you can't do comparative suffering.

There might be people starving in Africa, but I still want my lunch.

Do you take a bite out of your lunch and then throw it away? :D

Would it make any difference to the hungry if he ate the whole thing? They'd still be hungry.

Only if you threw it away instead of giving it to a poor, starving person. Between two choice of eating it or throwing it out, neither affects the hungry any more than the other.

Is opening a window in a too hot room disrespectful to those who are freezing on the north pole?