A collection of recent food stories from across the web.
• A new “road map” to reduce food waste has been created by a sector-crossing group of collaborators. It lists 27 strategies, from centralized composting to standardized date labeling to innovations that may be an economic boon to food companies. “From building demand for ugly produce to collecting spent brewery grains and selling it as animal feed, solving the food waste crisis should be an economic and employment windfall.” [NPR]
• Meanwhile, Italy will likely adopt food waste laws that “effectively tackles several issues: it combats waste, saves on spending, alters consumer perspectives on wasting and saving, and recovers tons in nourishing, edible food for the needy.” It is expected to pass the Italian Senate. [Reuters]
• The U.S. Senate will vote on a GMO food labeling bill today. It lacks support from Democrats, due to voluntary labeling practices outlined in the bill. [New York Times]
• European storks are now wintering in Spain in Portugal, instead of migrating to Africa. The reason? The storks are eating food scraps from European garbage dumps. “Because of the prolific, easily accessible food in landfills, Portugal’s stork population is now 10 times larger than it was 20 years ago. Not only has the overall number grown, but now the population of about 14,000 storks choose to stay year-round.” [Christian Science Monitor]
• UberEATS was released yesterday. The standalone app will deliver food from local restaurants (right now, just in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Toronto) seven days a week, day or night. Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Melbourne, New York, Paris, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. are set to get UberEATS next. [Press release]
• Troubled Chipotle may back off from some of its food-safety changes. Last month, it announced it would conduct high-resolution DNA-based testing on some of its ingredients, but “is now thinking of dialing back or eliminating pathogen testing on some ingredients.” February sales dropped 26.1 percent. [Fortune]
