Dumpster diving
Dumpster diving is a way to turn trash into food or otherwise usable goods. It reduces the amount of waste and recoupes the cost of transporting and processing it. There's no shortage of food, but there if a tremendous problem with distribution of food and waste of food.
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[edit] Is it eatable?
In most areas, stores are not allowed sell goods past their 'sell by' date--which is not the same as their 'use by' date. Some stores donate the food to food pantries and shelters, but this is often impractical because they'll have only a fairly small number of things going over-date each day, and saving them up to have a full load to take to a charity takes up space in their warehouse, and if they accidently put some of it back out for sale, they could end up being fined. Ironically, the items that often go over-date are the more expensive brands, as they sell less of it. They're also, in many areas, not allowed to sell any cans that are dented, that the packaging is unsealed or damaged (even if it's sealed, but just not correct), or that has not been in their hands (for example, things that were returned by customers, for whatever reason). These items usually have a sticker stuck on them, telling the warehouse people why it's being discarded, so they don't accidently reshelve it. Stores will often also discard items that have had things spilled on them, particularly if it's something sticky or smelly. (Would you buy, for example, a jar of minced garlic that smelled of garlic? Or would you pass it over suspecting it wasn't sealed properly?)
"Fresh" produce in particular often ends up in dumpsters. Stores will often pull produce that's just beginning to show signs of over-ripeness, because it may have gotten much worse by the time the empoyees next inspect that area, making the store look bad. In larger stores, in particular, they'll often toss out produce based on age rather than shape. For example, this batch of apples went out on x-day, therefore "should be" getting over-ripe by... This lets them pre-plan for a fresh box of hypothetical apples to arrive, but then their fresh box is just setting in the warehouse getting older and less appealing... so they pull the older apples and put out the newer ones. And anyone who's ever processed food knows produce doesn't all go bad at the same rate. And that's not even mentioning transport problems--produce setting in a hot semi-trailer is going to go bad faster than it would have in a concrete-block warehouse. If that truck is delayed for any reason, you may find entire boxes of produce that never made it to the floor. It's often just not practical for stores to pay their people to sort the good from the bad. If you're willing to do it, you can have quite a haul. Conveniently, you often even find produce in produce boxes (you know, those heavy-duty waxed cardboard "banana boxes". It's just sensible to have the employee grab one and go through the produce area tossing things into the boxes.
Meat is often tossed for the same reasons as produce, and is usually found in the same packaging you'd have found them in in the meat case, or in the heavy-duty plastic bags they arrived in. Whether or not to eat meat from dumpsters is a contentious subject among dumpster divers. It's far more likely to make you sick, being harder to identify as bad. In general, if it's summer, and the meat's still cold, you know it didn't get colder in the dumpster. In cold whether, it'll essentially have never left the freezer, as the world is essentially a freezer. Cold whether is also the season when rotisserie chickens and other pre-cooked foods, are safest: many stores discard them if they don't sell within a few hours. They even write the time and date on them. With all dumpstered food, but particularly meat, you have to use your common sense. Feel of it. Smell it. Modern food inspectors have made us complacent; we take it for granted that meat is safe. But people survived for centuries with meat in their diets before we had modern inspectors. Victorian cookbooks included tips on how to tell when meat had gone off. This is an important skill to have in food preparation, whether you're dumpster diving or not.
[edit] Particular Processing
Processing dumpstered food requires a few extra steps. Of course, you should be washing ALL produce. Dumpster divers need to be fastidious about cleaning what they find and careful about cross-contamination. Instead of washing in soap and water, produce and packaged foods should be washed off in something anti-bacterial, THEN washed with soap and water. Popular anti-bacterial washes appear to be deluted diluted bleach, rubbing alcohol, or hydrogen peroxide. Things also have to be inspected for broken seals or the reason it was dumpstered, though you often can't find a reason beyond 'the system is wasteful'.
The contents of dented cans should be inspected for spoilage. Some people prefer to wait until just before they're going to use it, others prefer to open, inspect, and re-can it if it's good.
Dumpstered foods that aren't pre-processed need to be preserved quickly, so it's usually best to have the kitchen set up to can or whatever you plan on doing, before you leave to "go foraging". Canning, though, is particularly useful, because it will kill microorganisms and you can sterilize your food and the canning equipment at the same time.
[edit] Other Uses
Not all food rescued from dumpsters need be for human consumption. Throughout history, we've feed livestock, especially pigs and chickens on what we couldn't or wouldn't eat. Some people, especially in urban areas, raise chickens exclusively on dumpstered foods. This is actually far healthier for the birds than the usual modern diet of ground grain they're typically raised on--far closer to their natural, varied diet. Chickens can even be given red meats you're uncertain of, just cook them down to the consistancy of pulled pork so they can get it apart easily. (Just because they can't bring down a cow on their own doesn't mean they don't want to eat them.) Likewise, some people let their dog's decide for themselves whether or not meat has gone bad--though just because of dog can eat it doesn't mean their owner could have!
Another option is compost piles or vermiculture. Vermiculture can be particularly efficient with chickens: the worms eat anything the chickens can't while making compost, then the chickens eat the worms.
[edit] Caution
Legality in your area is something you'll have to find out for yourself: it can vary town to town. In general, unless there are town ordinances against it, excluding Florida, dumpster diving is legal in the United States, if the dumpster is outside and unlocked. Dumpster diving ("skipping") is illegal in the UK. If you're having a hard time finding out in your area, simply call up city hall or the police department and ask.
You need to aware of product recalls. Stuff that has been recalled will end up in a dumpster. There are plenty of sites that list recalled items, but it's often quicker to just google the company that made it with the product name.
Some store owners, to discurage dumpster diving, dump bleach or other cleaning chemicals over the food they're discarding. Their official reasoning for doing this is that if someone got sick eating it, or hurt on the dumpster, they could be sued. Actually, the same law (in the US) that makes it no longer theirs after it goes in a dumpster makes it no longer their responsibility, but some of them do this anyway.
And finally, be leery of really great finds. This is rarely food, but it's possible. Dishonest employees often use "taking out the garbage" to get items they want to steal out of the store. If you take something that they threw out planning on retrieving later, if caught, you could be charged with receiving stolen goods. Of course, you didn't INTEND to steal anything--dumpster diving is just trespass in most places, but a dishonest employee is unlikely to come forward to clear you.
[edit] See also
- Trashwiki is a wiki dedicated to dumpster diving.
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