TikTok alleges huge amounts of food thrown out by Whole Foods
‘Honestly this is not OK,’ says Dumpster Diving Freegan Tik Tokker after finding dumped food
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A popular TokTokker claims to have exposed wasteful food dumping practices at Whole Foods.
The person who runs the account, called Dumpster Diving Freegan, said she found nearly 100 loaves of bread thrown out from a single Whole Foods store in one night that hadn’t expired.
“Everything that I found was at least two days before its best buy date and could have easily been donated, frozen or given to people who needed it,” she says in a voiceover, showing the disposed foods.
“Honestly this is not OK,” she says in the video, which has attracted more than 180,000 views.
According to her profile, the Dumpster Diving Freegan says she is exposing waste in the US.
@dumpsterdivingfreegan @Clown generated content So… I decided to investigate further, and OH MY GOD. ##dumpsterdiving ##MakeItCinematic ##freegan ##capitalism ##donatedontdump
♬ original sound - Dumpster Diving Freegan
It’s not clear where in the United States the Whole Foods store was located.
The TikTokker says she also found olive oil, baby food and even toilet paper had been thrown out, and says she was able to salvage most of the items and donated them to a food bank.
She said she was drawn to investigate Whole Foods after another TikTokker, who runs the account Decepticonmmunist account, posted about having to throw out huge amounts of food while working at the retailer.
In a second part of the video, Dumpster Diving Freegan shows the more than $500 worth of items she retrieved from the dumpster, including chocolate cake, tea, reusable cups and baby food.
Information provided to The Independent by a Whole Foods Market spokesperson showed the retail giant donates millions of pounds of perishable and non-perishable foods to food banks and rescue agencies each year.
In 2020 alone, Whole Foods Market donated more than 27 million meals to redistribution programmes in the US.
@dumpsterdivingfreegan Reply to @jobare007 yes! & I haven’t paid for to since BEFORE the pandemic for this reason🧍♀️##dumpsterdiving ##part2 ##MakeItCinematic ##wholefoods ##f
♬ original sound - Dumpster Diving Freegan
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments