The summary is:
The text is a transcript of a segment from the show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where he talks about the problem of food waste in America. He explains how Americans throw away 40 percent of their food, which has negative impacts on the environment, the economy and the people who are hungry. He criticizes the misleading and inconsistent sell-by dates, the unrealistic aesthetic standards for produce, and the lack of incentives for businesses to donate food. He urges everyone to change their habits and attitudes towards food waste, and to support a bill that would make tax breaks for food donations permanent. He uses humor, sarcasm and exaggeration to make his points, and ends with a parody of a cheeseburger commercial that illustrates the absurdity of food waste.
Here are some key facts extracted from the text:
1. As much as 40 percent of all the food produced in the United States never gets eaten.
2. Americans throw away 165 billion dollars worth of food every year, enough to fill 730 football stadiums.
3. Food waste is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, especially methane, which is more than 20 times as potent as CO2 at trapping heat.
4. Many people throw away food that is past its sell-by date, even though those dates are not regulated by the federal government and have nothing to do with safety.
5. Small businesses and farmers often face barriers to donating food, such as lack of tax incentives, transportation costs, and liability fears.
6. A bill that would have made tax breaks for food donations permanent was passed by the House but gutted by the Senate and replaced with a completely different bill.