Destiny of Unused food after flight What happens to the unused food after a flight? Does it get all destroyed (on-site or off-site) or is there some alternative use (e.g. Charity ) that it gets put to. Does the incoming food truck cart it off with the carts or is it handled by the Janitorial / Clean Up crews. 

On shorter sectors can some items be used on the next flight with the carts only being "topped up"?

PS. Obviously, I'm referring to the perishable items with short shelf lives. Not talking about peanuts and other packaged items that last with longer shelf lives.
The crew eats the food, no doubt. Just joking. The unused food is off loaded from the airplane into catering trucks and is discarded. It seems a bit sad but the reality is, any food that is leftover from a flight is considered “contaminated” so is discarded. This includes meals that passengers didn’t finish as well as entire carts full of food that were never used.   


  So what is being done to help eliminate unnecessary waste? With
  limited space on flights, some airlines have started to make small
  changes by only loading 95% of the required meals on each flight with
  the expectation that some passengers will opt not to eat. Other
  airlines have started charging around $10 a meal, recognizing that
  less food is consumed when meals are only available for purchase
  rather then complimentary. In the past, some airlines have even
  donated their unused food to shelters and charities to help make a
  difference. Unfortunately due to incidents where food poisoning
  occurred, the liability became much too high and is no longer
  practiced by airlines. (Source)