NEW YORK CITY – America has a food waste problem.

In a country famed for its large portion sizes, Americans toss out some 30-40% of the food produced.

"We think of U.S. households wasting about a third of all their food that could be eaten," said Ted Jaenicke, a professor of agricultural economics at Pennsylvania State University who studies food waste and consumer purchasing behaviors.

"Visually, that's buying three bags of groceries at the supermarket and putting one in the trash on your way out the door."

Experts say the holiday season compounds the problem.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, 200 million pounds of turkey meat is tossed each Thanksgiving – the biggest day of food waste of the year.

Much of that discarded food wind

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