Distributing Food - The Dual Virtues of Food Banking

Jeff KleinPresident and CEO

May 2014

Prepared for

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Our Mission

To alleviate global hunger by developing food banks in communities where they are needed around the world and by supporting food banks where they exist.

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Who We Are

GFN currently supports existing and developing food banks and national food bank networks in more than 25 countries, home to over one-third of the world’s undernourished people.We create efficient and sustainable organizations that provide environmentally friendly alternatives to food disposal.Our management team has extensive background in domestic and international food bank development and administration.

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The Hunger Challenge Hunger is pervasive. The world

produces enough food for everyone, but hunger still affects more than 840 million people throughout the world 1.

Hunger kills. Each year, the death toll from hunger and related diseases exceeds that of AIDS, malaria, and TB combined2.

Poverty is still widespread. More than 2 billion people still live on less than $2 each day3.1 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. State of Food Insecurity 2013.

2 World Food Program, 2012.3. World Bank. Global Poverty Update. February 2012.

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The world produces enough food to adequately nourish everyone on the planet1.However, much of what is grown, processed and manufactured is never consumed due to: Failure to harvest Post-harvest loss Product disposal

Expiration Over-production Damage Marketing and

other business decisions

Inadequate legal and tax incentives and poor alignment and coordination among government, the private and volunteer sectors.

The Hunger Challenge

1 Leathers, H., & Foster, P. (2009). The world food problem: toward ending under-nutrition in the third world. Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

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Food Banks and Food WasteApproximately one-third of the food produced for human consumption is never eaten1.

This equates to 1.3 billion tons of food lost each year. Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food (222

million tons) as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tons)

Food banks source an increasing amount of highly nutritious food including dairy products, proteins and produce from grocery stores prior to their shelf life expiration.

This intervention saves a tremendous amount of food from landfill and the destructive methane that it produces.

1 Global Food Loss and Waste, FAO, 2011

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How Food Banking Works

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The Global Community of Food Banks

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The Global Community of Food BanksEurope:

- Bulgaria- Russia- United Kingdom

North America:- Canada- MexicoCentral America:- Costa Rica- Dominican Republic- Guatemala- Honduras- El Salvador- Nicaragua

Africa- Namibia- Nigeria- Sierra Leone- South Africa

Asia:- Hong Kong- India- Singapore- South Korea- TaiwanMiddle East- Israel- Turkey

In Development: RedOperational: Green

Oceania:- Australia

South America:- Argentina- Brazil- Chile- Colombia- Ecuador- Paraguay- Uruguay

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Recovering the Food• Manufacturers, grocers, distributors, farmers and produce markets, hotels,

restaurants

• Over 920 million pounds recovered through the network in the most recent year

• Loss of commercial value

• Surplus food hierarchy – human consumption, animal feed, composting/renewable energy, landfill

• Sourcing process varies

• Manufacturers

• Grocery and distributors

• Produce

• Hospitality and restaurants

• Alternative models

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Storing and Distributing the Food

• Certify best practices – governance, fiscal transparency, food safety and inventory control

• Vetting the social services agencies (over 19,000 in our network)

• Food is often the draw

• Alternative models

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How to Reduce Waste and Feed More People

• Expand Good Samaritan protection to protect food donors from liability• Only several countries provide this protection to organizations donating food “fit for

human consumption”

• Supportive tax policy – deductions for donated food and cash contributions to non-profit organizations

• Many countries also assess a costly VAT-like tax to companies donating food

• Increase in capital to support huge need for expanding transportation equipment as well as cold chain (refrigerators and freezers)

• Needed at the farm and within the transportation equipment

• Needed to enable grocery store, hotel, and restaurant pickup and distribution operations

• Needed at food banks and their agency partners

• Raise awareness – Save Food, and other similar initiatives (WRAP UK, Feeding the 5000, Fusion and many others)

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Partners in our MissionCaterpillar Foundation

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Partners in our MissionCaterpillar Foundation