Distributing Food The Dual Virtues of
Food Banking
Jeff Klein
President and CEO
May 2014
Prepared for
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
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and administration.
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.
World Food Program, 2012.
3. World Bank. Global Poverty Update. February 2012.
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The Hunger Challenge
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.
1 Leathers,
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H., & Foster, P. (2009). The world food problem: toward ending under-nutrition in the third world. Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
Food Banks and Food Waste
Approximately one-third of the food produced for human consumption is never eaten1.
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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.
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 Banks
Africa
- Namibia
- Nigeria
- Sierra Leone
- South Africa
Europe:
- Bulgaria
- Russia
- United Kingdom
Oceania:
- Australia
Asia:
- Hong Kong
- India
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Taiwan
North America:
- Canada
- Mexico
South America:
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- Paraguay
- Uruguay
Middle East
-
Israel
Turkey
Central America:
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Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Honduras
El Salvador
Nicaragua
In Development: Red
Operational: Green
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Recovering the Food
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Manufacturers, grocers, distributors, farmers and produce markets, hotels,
restaurants
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Over 920 million pounds recovered through the network in the most recent year
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Loss of commercial value
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Surplus food hierarchy – human consumption, animal feed, composting/renewable
energy, landfill
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Sourcing process varies
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Manufacturers
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Grocery and distributors
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Produce
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Hospitality and restaurants
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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
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Expand Good Samaritan protection to protect food donors from liability
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Supportive tax policy – deductions for donated food and cash contributions to nonprofit organizations
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Only several countries provide this protection to organizations donating food “fit for human consumption”
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)
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Needed at the farm and within the transportation equipment
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Needed to enable grocery store, hotel, and restaurant pickup and distribution operations
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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 Mission
Caterpillar Foundation
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Partners in our Mission
Caterpillar Foundation
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