In the United States, it’s estimated that up to 40 percent of food produced is never eaten. Food is being wasted at every step of the food supply chain that connects farms to forks—from production to distribution to stores, restaurants, and consumers.

“The food industry has been wonderfully successful at increasing the supply and distribution of food across the world, but climatic and ecological impacts of wasted food have historically been overlooked. Current efforts to address this challenge have varied from very grassroots and community oriented to local government initiatives to private investment and industry coalitions. With RECIPES, we’re trying to pull information together from multiple sources nationally and investigate how to use that data for more comprehensive solutions.” -Prof. Ashton

As part of RECIPES Network, we are co-designing ways to foster creative and critical collaboration amongst researchers from various backgrounds and expertise, while advancing knowledge and skills needed for inclusive research with communities.