Many of us had mothers who, when encouraging us not to waste food, denied us dessert until we had "finished everything on our plate". If Mother Earth did the same thing, all of us who buy food from a retail store would never get any pudding!Each day, some 20% of edible food is rendered unsaleable from producer to consumer for a variety of reasons. Here are just three of them:
Sell-by Dates: A lot of what determines sell-by dates in your supermarket is not edibility, but things like texture, colour and taste. For example, a tin of jam can last several months, though it gets a bit darker after a couple of weeks, and becomes a little more runny. Retailers and manufacturers often have goods that have reached its sell-by date but is good to eat, and could be used by those in need. Many retailers give this food to charities, but there are often problems associated with this practice, such having a store manager needing to decide which charities to give to, and having to deal with the potential problems of ruining one of their supplier's brands if there is a food safety issue.
Packaging: Small defects in packaging often result in food being wasted. As a shopper, we are unlikely to buy a dented can or a package with a tear, even if we get the assurance that product is fairly good. It is often not cost-effective for a store to send product back to supplier, nor do any checks that the packaging is safe to consume and mark it down.Prepared Foods: Buffets, prepared foods at retailers and at catered functions often can generate reasonable quantities of left-over food. Because retailers, restaurants and catering companies cannot resell this food, or use it on the next day (most retailers and restaurants have "made today" guarantees), this easily becomes waste without a good strategy.
To be fair, many retailers, restaurants and caterers have credible attempts to utilise their excess for charity, though these can be greatly enhanced by good co-ordination. Enter FoodBank South Africa. Having a large non-profit organisation with skills in food safety, logistics and warehousing, means we can solve many of the problems associated with waste. We take the problem of food producers, distributors and retailers having to manage their donations by having a uniform process of working with charities to determine their needs, and how best to satisfy them. To help food companies protect their brands, we offer a defacing service where the brand is removed before distribution to charity. And lastly, having a driving fleet that is able to reach disadvantaged areas quickly and safely means we can take food from an event that generates excess food to people who need it the most.
Hopefully, as FoodBank, we are not only helping the hungry, but also making Mother Nature a little bit happier as we ensure that her resources are used more effectively. We're ending off with a quotation again today, this time from one of Africa's earliest thinkers and religious leaders:
"Our purpose in life is to obtain all we can, take from it what we need, and leave the remainder to those that need it more." - Augustine, African 4th century thinker and religious leader
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