A new survey conducted by the American Chemistry Council revealed Americans estimate they waste about $640 in household food each year. But as per government's data, a family of four in US wastes closer to $1,500.

According to the recent survey of 1,000 adults conducted by TNS Global, more than half of American households throw away leftovers and groceries purchased but never used.

The survey showed that 53% toss out leftovers every week, while 51% regularly throw fresh food they have brought home but never used.

Another research by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF), 31% to 40% of the American food supply gets wasted.

According to the report, this costs Americans $161.6 billion annually. It even puts a drain on the environment because approximately 30 % of the fertilizer, 35 % of the fresh water and 31 % of the cropland in the U. S. is used to grow food that is eventually wasted.

Roni Neff, director of the Food System Sustainability & Public Health Program at CLF, said in a statement that Americans think that they waste very little food, but in reality they are wasting substantial quantities of food.

"It happens throughout the food chain, including both a lot of waste by consumers, and a lot on our behalf, when businesses think we won't buy imperfect food", said Neff.

Food waste is the single biggest item in U. S. landfills, where it rots and releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, showed study.

About half of the 1,000 people surveyed during the study said that they felt bad about the amount of food wasted in light of world hunger. But most people were more concerned about how much money they lost from tossing the food.