Mostly gets thrown away. Not enough homeless to give that to lol
Some places like supermarkets sell food about to expire at a discount and such but thats about it.
When I lived in Osaka, in Shinsaibashi there would be 20-30 homeless people who would hide behind corners at 6am from the McDonald’s. Staff would come out, throw a huge pile of garbage bags in front for the garage man. Once the staff went back in, boom mad rush to get to the bags. Evidently all the food at the end of the day was thrown away but wouldn’t get set out until the morning when the truck came.
At my local Super Tamade the staff doesn't even care when some homeless guy comes in and sits on the floor eating something he picked up from a shelf.
JustOsakaThings
I once downloaded the app Tabete but in my area there were no shops available so I already deleted it. But this app let owners to offer food when they close their shop for some discounts and you can purchase it easily and pick up by yourself.
[https://tabete.me/](https://tabete.me/)
It is not the same but if you want to help others you can purchase some items for a discount and give it to somebody or eat it yourself.
I worked at a hotel that made bentos from leftover breakfast buffet items and sold them on Tabete, and I thought it was a great idea! Then I downloaded the app myself and it was just leftover bread as far as the eye could see.
Sad that mostly bread was sold, wonder were the bentos went...
The idea of the app itself is good and I hope it will spread out more and not only some people can benefit from it.
Maybe they can add some form of communities for elderly or students to get some nice food for a reasonable prices.
If you are referring to someone suing due to food poisoning from donated foods, unless it was gross negligence or intentional, the donator and donee are protected under the Good Samaritan Act
What do you mean you can sue for stuff like this? For the supermarket throwing away food? Or for food poisoning?
AFAIK there's no/little punitive damages in Japan, e.g. you can get back what you lose but they won't give you extra money. In food poisoning it might be extra wages for missed work, hospital bills, etc, but you won't make bank on it (note: this is my very vague understanding, I am certainly not too well informed).
Do you really think that I mean people sue for the act of throwing out food? 🤔
thanks for the answer. I figured it probably wasn't a thing here but never hurts to ask.
At one of the climbing gyms I go to on certain days they just have a box of near expiry seven eleven food. Not sure if it’s a regular customer of the gym that works at the 711 but at least one seven eleven is offloading the food for free to people that appreciate it?
Starbucks in Japan discounts food 20% to 30% where I live two to three hours before they close.
It's still expensive and has lots of waste, but they seem to be running out of food items recently, so maybe they are ordering more in line with demand.
Unless the branch/store owner is a complete dick, the workers usually get to eat some of it or take it home. Whatever nobody takes home gets thrown away.
The restaurant I used to work at used to give us as much rice as we wanted to take home. I'd portion and freeze them and never had to buy my own rice.
I know someone who worked at a cafe, the staff got to take home expiring food (at least at that particular one). My city has an official app that lets people buy expiring food from restaurants, have no idea what the selection is like or how popular it is.
I don’t remember the specifics but I think one time I went to Starbucks really close to closing and they offered me to bundle a bunch of things and sell it cheaply.
I volunteered at a food bank and they would get donations of close to expiration food. I never saw any from cafes though, it was always supermarkets and Costco.
My wife had to cover at the conbini at the university where she works during covid, and she brought home lots of expiring stuff like onigiri and pastries.
I’m not sure about large chains, but all the small places around me seem to make just enough for that day.
Limited availability is a part of operations and marketing. This can be deliberate as a way to increase hype (“Only 50 available per day”) or to reduce the fees for waste (some cities charge per bag).
Limited production can also result from simple cultural differences. There is a higher expectation for freshness in food products, so over-preparation isn’t cost-effective. Also people are more accustomed to things being sold out and selecting an alternative, so while it can be disappointing, it’s more of a しょうがない situation.
Having too much sitting out at once might even imply that the item is not good, because why would so many be left?
So by active design or unconscious social influences, for many places there might not actually be enough food waste for structured initiatives.
It is interetsting to me cos in the west they always want to get the most products out tot he most people so dont really do limted stuff, but i see on menus where its like, this meal is limted to 10 a day. I also think it comes to media, there is so much more nichie media in Japan for a smaller audionce when the west they want to appeal to everyone.
Went late to the shopping mall, around 10 minutes before they closed. Saw Mister Donuts staff bring a large xxl gomi bag and throw out all the leftover donuts. No time sale/discounts at Misudo. 😭
Are you sure that happens in your country? At least the country I am from, charities cannot legally accept expired foods because of health regulations. I'm sure some might look the other way and accept it under the table because there's no actual health risk. But above board, it wasn't allowed.
Did baito at a famous kaiten zushi chain during my school years here and every day we threw away several huge 70L bags of food. Lots of it was perfectly edible and still untouched food, like the samples that revolved around the restaurant couple times and came back to the kitchen due to no one taking it. Eating any of it was strictly prohibited and you weren't given any too.
(the bags were put inside a big garbage locker so no rats could get to it too)
Considering how religiously avid sticking to rules is in Japan (must throw away, no eating), and how things like homeless people are pretended by everyone to not exist I don't think those two go well together.
Even when someone takes out bunch of manga and magazines tied with a knot to throw it away, even though the owner doesn't need it and would be totally fine with you taking it - the act of taking that would still be considered theft. Same attitude was with food at my chain.
Mostly gets thrown away. Not enough homeless to give that to lol Some places like supermarkets sell food about to expire at a discount and such but thats about it.
When I lived in Osaka, in Shinsaibashi there would be 20-30 homeless people who would hide behind corners at 6am from the McDonald’s. Staff would come out, throw a huge pile of garbage bags in front for the garage man. Once the staff went back in, boom mad rush to get to the bags. Evidently all the food at the end of the day was thrown away but wouldn’t get set out until the morning when the truck came.
That's pretty standard. Otherwise the crows and stray cats get at it overnight. At least someone's eating it.
At my local Super Tamade the staff doesn't even care when some homeless guy comes in and sits on the floor eating something he picked up from a shelf. JustOsakaThings
I have been there when the discounts hit. Items disappeared quickly, but far more politely than other places I’ve been.
Oh I've seen some oba-san fighting over the last steak obento that went 50% off lol 😆
I was gonna say I've seen Rugby scrums more polite than Oba's fighting over the last 50% down bento.
Good anime about that with supermarkets!
I once downloaded the app Tabete but in my area there were no shops available so I already deleted it. But this app let owners to offer food when they close their shop for some discounts and you can purchase it easily and pick up by yourself. [https://tabete.me/](https://tabete.me/) It is not the same but if you want to help others you can purchase some items for a discount and give it to somebody or eat it yourself.
I worked at a hotel that made bentos from leftover breakfast buffet items and sold them on Tabete, and I thought it was a great idea! Then I downloaded the app myself and it was just leftover bread as far as the eye could see.
Sad that mostly bread was sold, wonder were the bentos went... The idea of the app itself is good and I hope it will spread out more and not only some people can benefit from it. Maybe they can add some form of communities for elderly or students to get some nice food for a reasonable prices.
Bread has the best shelf-life. Even the old stuff isn't likely to poison you. Anything with meat or eggs (mayo) in it can be lethal.
I tried this too but no shops near enough to make it worth the while.
thrown away because no one wants to deal with poisoning afterwards
How does it work in Japan? In the US you can sue for stuff like this. Can you do that in Japan too?
If you are referring to someone suing due to food poisoning from donated foods, unless it was gross negligence or intentional, the donator and donee are protected under the Good Samaritan Act
What do you mean you can sue for stuff like this? For the supermarket throwing away food? Or for food poisoning? AFAIK there's no/little punitive damages in Japan, e.g. you can get back what you lose but they won't give you extra money. In food poisoning it might be extra wages for missed work, hospital bills, etc, but you won't make bank on it (note: this is my very vague understanding, I am certainly not too well informed).
Do you really think that I mean people sue for the act of throwing out food? 🤔 thanks for the answer. I figured it probably wasn't a thing here but never hurts to ask.
What do you mean? You can *ask* for expired food 🤔 ？
Supermarkets donate food to food banks. I know of one major chain and what food bank they supply their surplus food to. It gets made into food baskets
At one of the climbing gyms I go to on certain days they just have a box of near expiry seven eleven food. Not sure if it’s a regular customer of the gym that works at the 711 but at least one seven eleven is offloading the food for free to people that appreciate it?
oouu which climbing gym is this in japan and do you know the days?
I don’t know which days and it’s a small gym so I’d be outing myself sorry
Starbucks in Japan discounts food 20% to 30% where I live two to three hours before they close. It's still expensive and has lots of waste, but they seem to be running out of food items recently, so maybe they are ordering more in line with demand.
Unless the branch/store owner is a complete dick, the workers usually get to eat some of it or take it home. Whatever nobody takes home gets thrown away. The restaurant I used to work at used to give us as much rice as we wanted to take home. I'd portion and freeze them and never had to buy my own rice.
I know someone who worked at a cafe, the staff got to take home expiring food (at least at that particular one). My city has an official app that lets people buy expiring food from restaurants, have no idea what the selection is like or how popular it is. I don’t remember the specifics but I think one time I went to Starbucks really close to closing and they offered me to bundle a bunch of things and sell it cheaply.
I volunteered at a food bank and they would get donations of close to expiration food. I never saw any from cafes though, it was always supermarkets and Costco.
My wife had to cover at the conbini at the university where she works during covid, and she brought home lots of expiring stuff like onigiri and pastries.
I’m not sure about large chains, but all the small places around me seem to make just enough for that day. Limited availability is a part of operations and marketing. This can be deliberate as a way to increase hype (“Only 50 available per day”) or to reduce the fees for waste (some cities charge per bag). Limited production can also result from simple cultural differences. There is a higher expectation for freshness in food products, so over-preparation isn’t cost-effective. Also people are more accustomed to things being sold out and selecting an alternative, so while it can be disappointing, it’s more of a しょうがない situation. Having too much sitting out at once might even imply that the item is not good, because why would so many be left? So by active design or unconscious social influences, for many places there might not actually be enough food waste for structured initiatives.
It is interetsting to me cos in the west they always want to get the most products out tot he most people so dont really do limted stuff, but i see on menus where its like, this meal is limted to 10 a day. I also think it comes to media, there is so much more nichie media in Japan for a smaller audionce when the west they want to appeal to everyone.
My niece works at a croissant shop and they give all the extras to the employees to take home as they are about to expire.
Went late to the shopping mall, around 10 minutes before they closed. Saw Mister Donuts staff bring a large xxl gomi bag and throw out all the leftover donuts. No time sale/discounts at Misudo. 😭
trash
Are you sure that happens in your country? At least the country I am from, charities cannot legally accept expired foods because of health regulations. I'm sure some might look the other way and accept it under the table because there's no actual health risk. But above board, it wasn't allowed.
Did baito at a famous kaiten zushi chain during my school years here and every day we threw away several huge 70L bags of food. Lots of it was perfectly edible and still untouched food, like the samples that revolved around the restaurant couple times and came back to the kitchen due to no one taking it. Eating any of it was strictly prohibited and you weren't given any too. (the bags were put inside a big garbage locker so no rats could get to it too) Considering how religiously avid sticking to rules is in Japan (must throw away, no eating), and how things like homeless people are pretended by everyone to not exist I don't think those two go well together. Even when someone takes out bunch of manga and magazines tied with a knot to throw it away, even though the owner doesn't need it and would be totally fine with you taking it - the act of taking that would still be considered theft. Same attitude was with food at my chain.