(NEWSER) – If you're bummed by today's gloomy news, this won't do much to raise your spirits. A new report out today outlines the "staggering" amount of food wasted around the globe each year: as much as 50% of what's produced. The UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers estimates that between 1.3 billion and 2.2 billion tons of the 4.4 billion tons produced each year "never reaches a human stomach." It lays the blame on a range of factors, from perfectly edible crops rejected by supermarkets because they fail to meet cosmetic appearance standards to overly strict sell-by dates, reports the Guardian.
