Experts estimate that 92 billion pounds of food gets wasted every year in the United States alone. Not only is that a major misuse of resources, but it’s terrible for the environment as well. Luckily, one organization is stepping up to do something about all of this tragic waste: The CDC just added a step to their Heimlich maneuver poster where the choking victim finishes eating the food they coughed up.
Take that, food waste! This is going to make a big difference.
While the previous posters distributed by the CDC were great at saving the lives of choking victims, they were a nightmare as far as food waste goes. On the old posters, Step 1 was “Give Five Back Blows,” Step 2 was “Give Five Abdominal Thrusts,” and Step 3 was “Repeat Steps 1 and 2 Until the Object is Forced Out,” but there was no reference whatsoever to what to do with the apple chunk or chicken bone that the victim had been choking on, implying it was fine to just discard it. The new posters, however, include a fourth step, which is “Victim Must Immediately Finish Eating the Object.”
So much yes! This is how you change the world for the better.
Hopefully the CDC’s new efforts will let the public know that wasting food is never okay, even if if it’s food that you were just choking on it and it’s on the floor. Versions of these posters are now hanging in every restaurant in the country in eight different languages and even braille, so now there’s no excuse for not eating the chunk of steak that was just ejected from your windpipe. This should have always been a required step of performing the Heimlich maneuver!
