U.S. Calories Available vs. Consumed (per person per day)
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, the U.S. produces or imports about 3,900 calories per person, per day, and consumes about 2,700 calories of that, per person, per day. “Consumption” is more than calorie intake as it includes food lost in preparation, thrown out, etc. The difference between available and consumed (1,100 calories per person, per day) is either used for farms (feed and seed), used by industry, spoiled, or wasted [usda.gov].
Economic Research Service (ERS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System, available, consumed.
Supermarket food loss:
ERS found that annual supermarket losses for 2005 and 2006 averaged 11.4 percent for fresh fruit, 9.7 percent for fresh vegetables, and 4.5 percent for fresh meat, poultry, and seafood.
Supermarket Loss Estimates for Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, Meat, Poultry, and Seafood and Their Use in the ERS Loss-Adjusted Food Availability Data, Buzby et al, Economic Research Service, U.S.D.A., March, 2009, http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB44/EIB44.pdf.
Breakdown by type:
Cheese!
Poor sweet potatoes.
Tracking a Century of American Eating, Morrison et al, Economic Research Service, U.S.D.A., March 10, 2010, http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/March10/PDF/TrackingACentury.pdf (http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/).