Between a quarter and a third of the food produced in the United States gets wasted. A lot of the waste happens during farming and processing, before the food even gets to consumers. Later, buyers often reject produce because of minor blemishes, or they throw away food when they bought too much or allowed it to rot. An average family spends hundreds of dollars each year on food that does not get eaten. Compounding the problem is that food distribution system's currently require a lot of energy. An item of food on an American plate has typically made a trip of over 2,400 kilometers. Then once the food arrives at a market there is energy consumed by unloading and stocking it. All told, around 15 percent of all the energy used in the United States is devoted to producing and distributing food. They say we could save a great deal of energy by addressing the problem of food waste. The 'sell by' dates on foods are typically very conservative and result in people throwing away perfectly edible items. Shoppers could be better informed about the true shelf life of the products they purchase. This would help them plan meals more efficiently and end up with less spoiled food. It might result in fewer trips to the store, which could keep fuel and cut down on pollution.