Rotisserie chickens in the trash: I worked in a supermarket and saw shocking food waste every day

[dickthegrouch]

15. The twin horrors of deep pockets and liability are to blame

According to wikipedia:
About 30-40% of fresh food produced in the U.S. is wasted. This includes food lost at various stages from production to consumption.

When a store discards food, it is actually unlikely that that food would make anyone sick if it were 'collected' quickly by the community. However, the store's "deep pockets" make them prime targets for law suits by greedy attorneys and unfortunate collectors who, in a civil damages suit, only have to prove a preponderance of evidence, to get a payout.
There's no way to prove the store's discarded food caused the illness, but they get shaken down anyway.

Ambulance-chaser attorneys caused this problem, and they aren't about to give up their gravy train. Yet anotoher way in which the ethics classes for attorneys need to be heavily revamped.

If I had my way all law makers and attorneys would be required to do a year of engineering classes. Writing laws with ethical loopholes that entire States can fall into would result in instant loss of accreditation and Bar membership.