Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Smith, thank you for joining us this afternoon.
According to our documents, food waste amounts to billions of dollars. Although not everyone benefits from your efforts and those of your volunteers, I still want to congratulate you on the work you are doing to avoid all this food ending up in the garbage bin without anyone being able to use it.
For competitive reasons, traditional grocery chains have come together to save money. Does all that waste have a positive or a negative effect on agricultural producers, processors and consumers in terms of food quality? Consumers are not the only ones responsible for that waste. Producers and food chains also play their part. What should be done to avoid all the waste?
Of course, food is distributed to people in need, but do you really think something else could be done to avoid wasting all this food? Any food that ends up in the garbage bin represents money wasted by consumers, processors and grocery stores.