I just heard this statistic on CNBC and found it to be alarming, I looked on their website but can't find the piece they aired. I did a quick google search and found this article which although dated, seems to support what I heard. For 2010 in the United States 31% of food available for consumption went to waste.
You can read the article and read the explanation of this but I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that, I never expected the number to be nearly that high. If 1/3 of our food is wasted how can't we find a solution to hunger? Wow............