Upcycled Food Association

Upcycled Food Foundation

The Upcycled Food Foundation is dedicated to reducing food waste. Through consumer education, advocacy, and research, Upcycled Food Foundation is working towards a future without food waste. Together, we can fix our broken food system.

Upcycled Food Foundation (UFF) is a 501c3 partner of the Upcycled Food Association. UFF supports research initiatives that help to understand how to leverage upcycled food to maximize food waste reduction, and consumer education initiatives that engage everyday grocery shoppers in the solution. 

The Problem: Food Waste

Our food system is broken. You have probably heard that 40% of all food is wasted, but did you know how much land, water, and energy is wasted alongside of it?

More than 1/4 of all arable land and more than 1/5 of all freshwater is used to grow food that is never eaten. 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food waste, making it one of the biggest contributors to global warming. 

Meanwhile, low paid farmers lose almost half of their potential revenue as perfectly good food goes wasted in the field.

The Solution: Upcycled Food

Reducing food waste is the single greatest solution to climate change, according to Project Drawdown.  Upcycled food reduces food waste by elevating all food to its highest value and best use. Upcycled food transforms nutritious food that would have otherwise been wasted into high-quality food products. 

Last year, upcycled food prevented more than 8 million pounds of food waste, reducing more than 23 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s equivalent to 26 million miles of car emissions or planting 14,000 acres of forest. 

In the next 10 years, upcycled food will pump more than $30 billion into our food system, providing better wages and quality of life for farmers around the world.