Food Politics

Tetra Tech collected and analyzed data for a recent Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report analyzing food waste trends in urban areas of the United States to identify ways to reduce the amount of food that ends up in landfills.

It’s the time of year for gathering around the table, and with more Fair Trade Certified produce on store shelves than any other time of the year (hint, hint!), it's the perfect time to extend our gratitude to farming families around the world. While it’s true that most of your favorite holiday recipes can be made sustainably by simply cooking or baking with Fair Trade Certified ingredients, we’d like to share a few from own tables and foodie friends, ranging from easy to ambitious.

Wendy’s recently hosted its annual meeting in Las Vegas, at which the most outstanding suppliers and distributors were presented with Golden Link Awards by Quality Supply Chain Co-op (QSCC). The Golden Link award recognizes the critical role they play as a link in Wendy’s supply chain. Wendy’s also presented their Quality Assurance award to honor a supplier who consistently maintains the highest standards of food quality and product safety. Of hundreds of suppliers and distributors, these twelve earned the QSCC Golden Link awards for their performance over the past two years.

Most people don't know that food packaging plays a vital role in reducing food waste. By embracing better food packaging best practices, we can help take action against hunger.

Last April, Walmart launched Project Gigaton, a project that invites our merchandise suppliers to join us in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the products they make and the way they make them, taking 1 gigaton (yes, that’s really a word - a billion metric tons) of emissions out of the atmosphere. That’s equal to all the emissions produced from all the homes in California over three years.

Each year a third of the world’s food is wasted, along with the resources used to produce and transport it, according to the United Nations. Considering our already overburdened environment, reduction is an obvious and immediate priority.

Our individual actions can make a dent in the problem, no doubt. Consumers are responsible for 43% of food loss and waste along the food supply chain. Meal planning, freezing leftovers and other simple steps to reduce waste are good, cost-saving habits for us all.

The business community, however, can make a bigger dent more quickly by embracing its own new habits and influencing consumer behavior.

Hear from workers at Wholesum Harvest's Amado farm about what Fair Trade means to them and how they are using their Community Development Funds to address their most pressing community needs.

As part of our Leading with Science® campaign, we asked our employees to reflect on how they incorporate the latest science and technology into their work at Tetra Tech.

Hormel Foods has launched its 11th annual corporate responsibility report. The report is available online and includes information related to the company’s corporate responsibility performance in fiscal 2016.

The school year is upon us, and with the help of Fair Trade you can use your daily school routine as opportunities to change the lives of families around the world!