“Enjoy your meal!” the server says over their shoulder as they scurry off to care for another table. Before the plate is even fully down, my phone is a foot above the table, camera in 0.5 mode, sliding left and right and up and down to capture a picture, justifying my ridiculous habit by muttering […] The post “Phone Eats First” – How a desire for picture-perfect food drives wasteful behavior appeared first on Food Rescue MAINE ..read more

Bananas, am I right? Seriously, they turn from green to brown in the blink of an eye. And berries go from firm and tasty to sad and mushy even faster!  Neither can be eaten and enjoyed as I originally intended, but are they really “bad” and ready to be tossed? Lately, my mom has been […] The post Brown bananas and mushy raspberries – ripe for “upcycling”! appeared first on Food Rescue MAINE ..read more

I admit it…I’m guilty of this. There have been times when I didn’t get a chance to finish my apple before embarking on a walk. Or, I hiked a trail and munched on that delicious fruit on the summit. The end result was always the same. After I ate the last bite of crisp sweetness, I faced the unpleasant prospect of carrying that sticky core all the way back to my house, or car, or wherever. To be honest, I just as often threw it into the woods. I figured it would biodegrade or be eaten. Either way, it would be gone. Out of sight, out of mind. At least, that was my attitude until a casual conver ..read more

We wanted to share with you the exciting news that Governor Mills has issued an official Proclamation designating September 25-29, 2023 as Maine Food Waste Awareness Week! In particular, we’d like to thank the Maine Dept. of Education and the teachers, staff, and students who participated in our 2023 Maine School Cafeteria Food Waste Study. Their work enabled us to show the importance of food waste education in reducing food waste and improving student nutrition – while also saving money and fighting climate change. Their efforts helped generate food waste awareness and action in entire s ..read more

More information on this pilot is coming soon! The post Pilot 3: UMaine Orono Community Fridge (coming soon) appeared first on Food Rescue MAINE ..read more

FRM worked with the Maine towns of Portland, Waterville, Winslow, Readfield, Wayne, and Fayette to implement a community food recycling program. Goals  To measure the potential of a community food recycling program to divert food out of landfills. Methodology  Select a diverse range of Maine communities based on size and location. Identify community-based leadership for the food recycling program. Develop food recycling program infrastructure. Promote community food waste education program. Measure and track community landfill diversion of food waste and related cost savings. Identi ..read more

Goals  To help Maine businesses, organizations, and individuals understand WHY and HOW to donate food instead of throwing it away. Methodology  With so much untapped food donation potential in Maine grocery store chains, we originally wanted to work with them to increase food donations throughout the state. However, there was a lot of reluctance on their end, as they feared running into legal or financial issues along the way. These misconceptions made us realize that we had to create a tool that would enable food donors to be able to easily donate food and see the rationale for why ..read more

Food Rescue MAINE is currently working to develop a comprehensive map of Maine’s food system, organized by the pieces of a successful circular food system. This map will provide Mainers with critical information about the food system in their region. Data sets will include categories such as food recycling organizations, farmers, schools, cold storage facilities, food processors, and much more. Goals  To develop Maine food system infrastructure to meet the food processing needs of our primary target: Maine farmers and secondary target: Maine food system participants. To develop a proble ..read more

After Pilot 3 was completed, we had many recipes to upcycle food, but no knowledge about what products would be feasible to sell in store. Mainers Feeding Mainers, a Good Shepherd Food Bank program, did a crucial study to see what items would be marketable in Maine stores. Goals To develop a resilient local Maine region food supply chain (produced, inventory/storage, processing, transportation, retail). To reduce wasted food (nutritional, $ value) and related wasted key resources (water, energy, labor, soil). To reduce food insecurity and improve access to nutritious local food for all MAine ..read more

After discovering how many surplus crops farmers struggled to sell (pilot 2), we knew we had to figure out new markets for their use. Upcycled food products are foods (often surplus food or produce seconds) that are repurposed through processing techniques. Goals To expand the available markets for surplus crops. To increase the shelf life of food and make it more versatile. Methodology  We met with the USDA to see what the biggest food waste categories in Maine were. We collaborated with Kennbec Valley Community College’s food preservation cooking class. Local farms brought their surp ..read more