Americans throw away more food than ever before

Consumers are producing more food waste than ever despite growing awareness of the issue. An analysis of the latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data available on the subject revealed that in 2017 consumers wasted 41 million tons of food; that's roughly 15% of all trash thrown out, and represents a continued upward trend represented over the past few decades. Over 80% of consumer food waste takes place in homes, supermarkets, grocery stores and restaurants. View the accompanying graphics at The Counter ...

Amazon said nearly 20K workers got coronavirus

Amazon announced this week that 19,816 of its frontline U.S. workers have tested positive or been presumed positive for COVID-19. The company's warehouse safety policies are being pointed to as a reason for the high number of cases, although Amazon representatives have said that, compared to the rates of illness within the general population, it was actually lower than expected. Because the company will not release a state-by-state breakdown of confirmed COVID-19 cases at its facilities, workers and advocacy groups are now hoping to crowdsource the missing information. CNN has the story ...

Iowa pig farmer: 'We're still in survival mode'

Iowa's pig farmers remain in turmoil. Thanks to COVID-19 and related plant closures, they were faced with a glut of pigs unable to be slaughtered. An estimated 1 million hogs and pigs have been euthanized so far in 2020 as a result. Although Iowa has paid over $3 million to farmers for their losses, the compensation hasn't been enough by a mile, and hog producers expect to lose $5 billion in profits this year. See the story in photos via The Wall Street Journal ... 

Pandemic-weary shoppers want a meaningful holiday

Consumers are trying to do the right thing this holiday season by making purchases at companies that have a demonstrated commitment to health, safety and hygiene in addition to minimizing their in-store shopping to help protect essential workers. Big-box retailers including Walmart, Target and Best Buy have announced they will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and are stretching out holiday sales to discourage the in-person crowdedness of Black Friday sales. Head over CNBC to learn more ...

Artist dumps over 60K pounds of carrots outside British university

Rafael Pérez Evans, a London-based artist, this week dumped 29 tons of carrots outside of a new glass building at Goldsmiths, University of London. According to the artist, the performance piece incorporated 64,000 pounds of "fresh, unwanted" carrots that had been rejected by grocery stores for minor physical imperfections. The act of dumping the carrots without any fanfare is also symbolic of how farmers in 2020 have had to destroy goods that were no longer needed by restaurants, schools and offices after these establishments shut down. Find out what will happen to the carrots after the exhibition is over on Oct. 6 at Modern Farmer …