Too Much Food Wasted

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/03/global-food-waste-statistics/

One of the stories in the National Geographic magazine was about how much edible food the world wastes. I was shocked by the huge amount of food that gets thrown out because it is "too ugly" to eat. Most of this food is deformed vegetables and fruits that are still perfectly fine to eat. This article states that "About a third of the plant's food goes to waste. That's enough to feed two billion people." But yet, it's not being done. So much food is thrown out because society has deemed it unacceptable to eat. Most of the food loss occurs between a farmer and the supermarket. The supermarket has set high standards on how vegetables and fruits must look like and  feel like and can have no imperfections. Many farmers have to throw out and ignore large portions of their harvest because it doesn't meet the aesthetic standards that supermarkets and society have put upon food.
Ugly food isn't the only reason why food is wasted. Food is also wasted when it is thrown out before the expiration date has passed or someone was too full to finish the rest of their meal. The U.S. consumes only 47% of food that is produced while the other 53% is thrown out/ lost and wasted.
Many charities and other organizations have begun to salvage and save unwanted produce to cook for the homeless and needy people. This is a good method of reducing the food we waste, but it won't solve it. To solve the wasted food problem we need to choose to not thrown out food that is still good and not judge the food we buy on its appearance alone. If supermarkets realize that consumers care less about the foods appearance, then they will stop rejecting so much produce that is "ugly."