Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic’s Post

The depot is run by Brazil’s biggest network of food banks, Sesc Mesa Brasil. With 95 units all over the country, Mesa – which means table in Portuguese – collects food that would otherwise go to waste from supermarkets, farmers and other suppliers and retailers, sorts it, and then donates it to partner organisations. “The programme has two pillars, to fight food waste and to fight hunger,” says Cláudia Roseno, an aid manager at Sesc, a not-for-profit private enterprise providing culture, leisure, education, health and aid services across Brazil. New research published last week highlights how such efforts to reduce food waste can be bolstered in Brazil and used as a key tool for fighting widespread food insecurity. Read the Guardian piece, "‘Fight waste to fight hunger’: food banks embrace imperfection to feed millions in Brazil", by Constance Malleret, which highlights research from our Global Food Donation Policy Atlas Project in Brazil, with partners The Global FoodBanking Network and Mesa Brasil Sesc - Rio Grande. Read: https://lnkd.in/eg8UGK7P

Can legislation pave the way for a significant reduction in food waste while ensuring the well-being of those in need? In Singapore, the proposed Good Samaritan Food Donation Bill has garnered widespread support from charities and social enterprises. It aims to tackle the dual challenges of food waste and hunger. Food charities, such as Food Bank Singapore and Food from the Heart, welcome the proposed law, highlighting its potential to streamline donation processes and salvage more food for the needy. Ultimately, the support for the Good Samaritan Food Donation Bill underscores a collective commitment to addressing food waste while ensuring the safety and well-being of vulnerable communities in Singapore. As discussions continue, the potential impact of this legislation on food sustainability and social welfare remains a crucial point of focus for stakeholders across the nation. A platform like Pollen actively engages in sustainable liquidation efforts by managing food surplus with innovative solutions. We redistribute food & beverages and other excess items by automating workstreams, unlocking the power of pricing analytics, and empowering teams to take action for more sustainable outcomes. ➡ Check out what we do at Pollen by visiting our website at https://www.pollen.tech/ https://lnkd.in/g_-D9CaX

World Food Day today is a global call to action against hunger and malnutrition. It focuses on ensuring that every person worldwide has access to nutritious food while addressing critical issues of food security and sustainability. We envision a world that nourishes all people while being environmentally sustainable. Grow to Market (GTM) is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) affiliated with Food Enterprise Solutions whose mission is to provide market-driven solutions in the global fight against hunger and malnutrition. https://lnkd.in/e6DVdMNi

Thrilled to finally reveal the 18 organisations that have been selected to receive funding from this year’s €200,000 Coca Cola #ThankYouFund. Together with the Irish Youth Foundation, the investment The Coca-Cola Company and our bottling partners, Coca-Cola HBC, are making in these youth organisations can help empower young people across the country through programmes of learning, inclusion, and sustainable development. The funding awarded to one of these organisations, Mayo North East, will support a new programme that empowers young people to reduce food waste and be more sustainable in the kitchen. Since the Coca-Cola Thank You Fund was launched in 2011, we’ve awarded grants of over €1.7 million to more than 160 organisations across the island of Ireland. Thanks to Lucy Masterson and all the team at the Irish Youth Foundation for supporting these impactful initiatives. I’m looking forward to seeing the continuing impact of the fund in empowering young people and inspiring more inclusive communities over the coming months. For more, visit: https://lnkd.in/e93JC7GQ #CocaCola #ThankYouFund #YouthFunding #Community

18 organisations have been selected to receive a grant share of this year's Coca-Cola #ThankYouFund. Assessed under the categories of #learning and #sustainabledevelopment, one organisation that received a grant this year was Mayo North East in Mayo. The funding Mayo North East received will support a project called "Waste Wise Kitchen" which will run two ten-week programmes focused on food waste, cooking skills, healthy eating, and ways to reduce food waste and be more sustainable. To find out about the 18 local community groups that will receive a grant share of this year’s €200K Coca-Cola Thank You Fund, visit https://lnkd.in/dKM-SKrJ https://cch.smh.re/2I7

Growing up, I'm sure most of us would have been chided at some point for wasting food🍚 when there were 'children starving in Africa🌍'. Realistically, there would be no way to transport those few scraps of food across a continent, and it would have spoilt before reaching any starving children🧒🏻. But it did teach us a valuable lesson - to appreciate what we have and not waste food. So how about a more realistic scenario - local supermarkets🛒 with food nearing its expiry date🗓 (but still safe to eat), and food manufacturers who might have overstocked certain items. At present, 100% of this food waste is discarded, when at least 50% of it could be used to feed needy communities here in Singapore itself. This is mainly due to companies' fear of exposing themselves to liability in case a beneficiary were to fall ill😷 or suffer harm from consuming the food (say if there was a delay⌚ in delivering the food to a charity) Enter the proposed Good Samaritan Food Donation Bill. Aiming to absolve donors of liability (within reason of course!), the bill aims to incentivise decision makers in companies producing food waste to donate this excess food rather than scrap it. While not all food wastage can be salvaged, this would still be a step in the right direction📈 to tackling food waste and combating hunger. Caution must also be exercised by charities and beneficiaries, to check that food is still safe for consumption by the time it reaches them. While not a silver bullet, this Bill is definitely a step in the right direction. With all stakeholders playing their part, we can hopefully shift the status quo from discarding all food waste to repurposing half or more of it. #legal #sglaw #bties #foodwaste #goodsamaritan #charity

‘The Food Bank Report #1 - by whom and how is surplus food being redistributed in Sweden?’ We have released an English version of our recent report “Matbanksrapporten #1”! It is the first national overview of food banks in Sweden and how donated surplus food is redistributed. The report also highlights ethical and practical dilemmas faced by food banks that are both acting to alleviate increasing food poverty, and at the same time working to reduce avoidable food waste and resource wastage by redistributing donated surplus food. Vill du läsa rapporten på svenska? https://lnkd.in/dzsbVbFT

Making meal recovery the norm in NJ is the founding mission of the MRC, and so we were thrilled to see an excellent report conducted by Move For Hunger and funded by the The Tepper Foundation that highlights the importance of food waste reduction in our state. We wholeheartedly agree that recovered and donated food has great unrealized potential as a pathway to solve the growing need for fresh food in our communities. Our team has also witnessed a strong interest in food recovery, as well as the lack of data, knowledge, and ownership that keeps this work under-utilized and inefficient. There is transformative potential in building a collaborative, clear system for getting food that would be wasted into the hands of those in need. Not only fresh food from farms, but also the thousands of prepared, healthy meals from food service programs that are disposed of every day. In alignment with this report's recommendations, our goals are to raise awareness, foster collaboration, and to build a scalable model for meal recovery that can be replicated not just across our state, but across the nation. We are excited to share more updates as we continue to build partnerships and tools in 2025, providing the support needed for any nonprofit, corporation, or individual who wants to be involved in meal recovery to play their part! #Sustainability #NewJersey #FightFoodInsecurity #FightFoodWaste #MealRecoveryCoalition #MealRecoveryRevolution #FoodRescue #foodwaste #foodwasteprevention #CommunityImpact #EnvironmentalImpact

Today I attended the plenary meeting of the Advisory Group on Sustainable Food Systems of which European Food Banks Federation - FEBA is a member. Among the agenda items was an update on the state of play of EU Sustainable Public Procurement criteria, a topic under the umbrella of EU Health and Food Safety. Since one of the key points is food waste prevention, I used the opportunity to highlight the importance of facilitating food donation, i.e. of making nutritious surplus food available for people in need. By supporting Food Banks to recover and redistribute e.g. meals from schools and public canteens, the value of invested resources can be preserved and food insecurity actively reduced - a win-win approach.

FOOD WASTE & LOSS: Chef Tom Kerridge calls on UK government to fund surplus food scheme. An interesting read. Chef Tom Kerridge is teaming up with charities to demand delivery of a promised £15m fund to divert fresh but unused food from farms to food banks and soup kitchens across the country. “The food redistribution sector helps transform surplus food into stronger communities,” said Kris Gibbon-Walsh, chief executive of #FareShare. “These local charities turn food that would otherwise go to waste into meals, providing a gateway to other essential services that support people in need. This fund is an incredible opportunity to rescue millions of tonnes of fresh produce from our farms, and help tackle the environmental problem of food waste for social good.” Let’s all work together to ensure that more of our edible food ends up in our bellies and less in our bins and landfill. You can share your surplus food using #Olio. Which connects neighbours with each other and with local businesses so surplus stuff can be shared, not thrown away. Find out more and join here: https://lnkd.in/eBCmYbbj https://lnkd.in/eVVUU5Y8 #Food #FoodSurplus #FoodWaste #Sustainability #ClimateChange #BioDiversity #FoodScience #FoodTechnology #Nutrition #FoodIndustry #Retail #SupplyChain #Hospitality #FoodService#Restaurants #Health #PublicHealth #EnvironmentalHealth #IFST Arthur Giraux Tessa Clarke Saasha Celestial-One