food pg: Where the food goes

Published in The Post-Star (D1)
8/9/06

Bakers wake at dawn to create the bounty of fresh breads, pastries and bagels that lure carb-hungry consumers to many local markets and cafes.

But by sunset, there are almost always some leftovers.

What happens to all that surplus food?

"We eat it," joked Dan Murphy, owner of Uncommon Grounds cafes in Saratoga Springs and Albany. "No, just kidding. The biggest food item we have left over is bagels. It's almost impossible to predict exactly how much we're going to need, and we don't want to run out. We probably bake 60 to 80 dozen a day, and usually have several dozen left."

Day-old bagels are bagged and sold for half-price, he said, and by the next day, anyone can take them for free from a basket at the front of the store. After two days, any remaining bagels are thrown out, but that rarely proves necessary.

"I think some people are becoming regular second-day bagel grabbers," he said.

In Queensbury, volunteers from churches and food pantries head to Panera at about 10 each night to pick up any bread items that did not sell that day, said assistant manager Rose Charron.

"We bake at least $1,500 worth of product each day, and how much is left over depends on the weather -- if it rains, for example, we get hit hard. But usually we have a few hundred dollars worth of product left at the end," she said.

At the Bread Basket in Saratoga Springs, up to 1,000 individual items are baked each day, and none of them contain preservatives, said owner Matt Tallman. Loaves of bread stay on the shelf for 24 hours at the most, while the pastry cases -- filled with things like chocolate almond croissants, cinnamon bear claws, and cranberry-orange scones -- start from scratch each morning.

"We usually freeze the leftovers and donate them to the soup kitchen or some sort of charity fundraiser, like a school booster club bake sale," Tallman said. "But when we run out of freezer space, we have to throw out about 20 percent of what we make."

It's a little easier to manage inventory at Putnam Market, said co-owner Gloria Griskowitz, because surplus grocery items can be converted into prepared foods at the in-store deli.

"For example, if we get in too much chicken breast and don't think we'll be able to sell it all, we can convert it to chicken salad or soup while it's still at optimal freshness," she said.

The market donates breads, cookies, cakes, and other grocery items that are "past optimal freshness" to the local soup kitchen, but some waste is unavoidable for the sake of food safety, Griskowitz said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it's close to 15 to 20 percent of the food that has to go into the trash," she said.

Local grocery chains like Price Chopper, Hannaford's and Stewart's donate their about-to-perish produce and baked goods to places like the Economic Opportunity Council's soup kitchen and food pantry in Saratoga Springs. There, the food is given away to people in need or used to make free lunches for the soup kitchen, explained Lillian McCarthy, director of community services for the council.

Volunteers sort through the donated produce to pick out any moldy or rotten items -- but even those don't go to waste, said McCarthy.

"We put anything moldy aside, and on Saturdays we have a gentleman who is a pig farmer pick it up," she said. "We try desperately not to throw anything away."