Rescued food feeds the poor

By KAREN HOPPER USHER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Trucks carrying some 40,000 tons of cherries will drop them off this month in Cadillac to fill food bank shelves in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. It’s part of a statewide effort to reduce food waste and put it to use feeding poor people. “The state is one of the winners when hunger comes off the table,” said Phil Knight, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan. Flawed and ideal vegetables are held back from the grocer’s shelves and your dinner plate. Industry marketing agreements among growers mean some ideal or “type one” fruits and vegetables are not sold during years where the harvest is strong.