In Seattle they started letting homeless activists dumpster dive for food a few years ago. For a while (thye may even still be doing it) once a month local chefs would get together and make gourmet meals from it as a fund raiser. I think it is a terrible waste of food. My local QFC doesn't throw anything out they donate all there food to the local food bank.

Now about 20 years ago when I was a poor starving student I knew a guy that was a steward for Amtrak. He told me that by law they were required to throw out all the food on the train at the end of it run. We used to hit the dumpsters for a while you would find steaks and roasts still in there sealed bags. Produce a pleanty you name it it pretty much was there, except dry goods. We ate like kings for a long time until the bastards starting locking the dumpsters.