The Vegetable World by the Numbers
10
Percentage of Americans who eat the recommended 1½ to 2 cups of fruit and 2 to 3 cups of vegetables per day
42
Percentage of Americans who don’t regularly consume produce
279
Pounds of meat consumed annually by the average American
186
Pounds of vegetables consumed annually by the average American
5.2 million
Annual deaths worldwide attributed to a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables
$2.50
Cost per day in the United States of the recommended amount of produce
338 million
Pounds of produce Americans throw away every day
$165 billion
Cost of food Americans throw out every year
50
Percentage increase in food waste since 1990
12
Percentage of income Americans spend on food
19
Percentage the rest of the world spends on food
$6.2 billion
Amount of US taxpayer money allocated to subsidizing corn
75
Percentage of processed American food that contains corn (mostly as a sweetener)
40
Percentage of American kids’ vegetable consumption that comes from French fries
3
Number of potato varietals available in the average US market
38
Number of flavors of Mountain Dew available on the US market
420
Number of calories $1 buys in soda
39
Number of calories $1 buys in organic broccoli
496
Percentage increase in farmers’ markets in the United States over the past twenty-five years
$1.5 billion
The amount of money raised in 2017 by the fifteen biggest food start-ups
14
Number of those start-ups dedicated to creating plant-based products