End Hunger Now

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, up to 40 percent of the food produced in our country goes to waste. Food waste packs our landfills, increases harmful emissions that contribute to our climate crisis, and drives up costs for producers, manufacturers, and consumers alike.

With 44 million of our fellow citizens struggling with food insecurity, it is clear we need a better nationwide strategy to divert food that is perfectly good to eat from landfills and to the plates of hungry families.

I am grateful for the efforts of U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration for their work in leading an interagency task force to tackle this very issue.

Their work, coming out of the 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, has resulted in a comprehensive Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics.

The strategy, which I ask all of my colleagues to read, details how each and every one of us, from citizens to government agencies, can do our part to reduce food waste as we work to end hunger now.

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