Food rescue facts for kids
Food rescue is about saving good food that would otherwise be thrown away. It's also called food recovery or surplus food redistribution. This food comes from farms, grocery stores, restaurants, and dining halls. It is then given to local programs that help people who need food.
The food that is saved is perfectly good to eat, but it might not be perfect enough to sell. For example, fruits and vegetables might be an odd shape or color. Stores might donate items that are past their "sell by" date or have a small bruise. Restaurants might have made too much food, or have extra pieces of meat or fish from preparing meals. Food factories might also donate products that don't quite meet their quality checks. Often, food that has passed its "best before" or "sell by" date is still safe to eat. What these dates mean can be different in various countries.
Groups that work on food rescue often partner with food banks, food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters. They help get the food to people. These groups must keep the food safe while storing and moving it. They also need to share information quickly so that food that spoils fast can be used right away. There are even apps now that connect extra food with people and charities.
Food rescue does more than just help people get food. It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions from landfills. This is a big step in helping cities become carbon neutral, meaning they don't add to climate change. Countries like France have even made laws saying supermarkets must donate unsold food instead of throwing it away. In 2021, Milan, Italy, won an award for its city-wide food rescue project.
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How Food Is Saved
Most rescued food is saved from being thrown into a dumpster and ending up in landfills. Food saved from farms is kept from being plowed back into the ground. On farms, volunteers often help harvest this extra food. In the United States, businesses that donate food for rescue programs can get tax benefits. They are also protected from lawsuits by a law called the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act.
A great benefit of food rescue programs is that they give healthy food to people who need it. This includes people living in a "food desert" – an area where it's hard to find healthy and affordable food. Food rescue programs also help people who might not qualify for government food assistance programs. Many programs offer quick help without a long application process. Since so much edible food is thrown away and free to take, food rescue groups usually don't have strict rules about who can get food. This means they can often provide food faster and more easily than other hunger relief programs.
Food Waste and Climate Change
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says that food waste is the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. About 98% of food waste goes into landfills. There, it breaks down and releases methane gas into the air. Food waste decays quickly, so it creates more methane than other things in landfills. Methane gas is over 20 times stronger than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. Wasted food in landfills causes 8-10% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. These gases from rotting food make global temperatures warmer and lead to extreme weather. They also cause sea level rise and other problems.
Food rescue helps fight these greenhouse gas emissions. For every US dollar spent on saving food from landfills, about 7.5 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions are avoided. For example, a resort in Las Vegas saved over 24,000 kilograms of extra food in one year. This provided over 45,000 meals and stopped about 108 metric tons of greenhouse gases from going into the air.
Ways to Rescue Food
There are many ways to save food from going to a landfill. The United States Environmental Protection Agency suggests these actions, from best to least desirable:
- Reduce the amount of food wasted in the first place.
- Feed hungry people.
- Feed animals.
- Use food for industrial purposes.
- Compost food.
- The least desirable options are burning food or sending it to a landfill.
Reducing Food Waste
This means making less food waste to begin with. At home, you can make shopping lists so you don't buy too much food. You can also buy smaller amounts of fresh food more often to prevent it from spoiling. Many people waste food because they don't understand food labels like "best before" dates. Learning about these labels can help. A simple trick is to use bright tape to mark foods that need to be used soon.
Reducing waste is important at every step of the food supply chain. This can include donating food or turning it into new food products. It also means saving ""ugly" vegetables" from farms that might not look perfect but are still good. It also means using by-products from food processing. By reducing waste, we can increase the amount of food available. This helps us be more self-sufficient and brings environmental, economic, and social benefits.
Apps like Flashfood in Canada and the US tell users about deeply discounted groceries that are about to expire. Shoppers can buy them online and pick them up at the store. The Too Good to Go app lets customers buy "Surprise Bags" of discounted food from restaurants and bakeries. This app started in Denmark in 2015 and is now used in 15 countries.
Feeding People
Organizations can donate both non-perishable (like canned goods) and unspoiled perishable food (like fresh produce) to food banks, food pantries, homeless shelters, and other groups that give out food. This food is often nearing its "best by" date.
Sometimes, individuals who save food are called freegans or dumpster divers.
Feeding Animals
Many animals can eat food scraps. But just like with humans, spoiled food can make animals sick. Farmers, garbage collectors, and recycling centers sometimes collect discarded food for animals. Rules for this vary by local laws.
Industrial Uses
Anaerobic digestion is a process that turns food waste into renewable energy. Food is separated from its packaging, then broken down and mixed with bacteria in special tanks without oxygen. The bacteria turn the waste into biogas (like methane), which can be used to make electricity.
Composting is another way to use food waste. You add food scraps to a compost pile. Composting has many benefits. It reduces methane gas from landfills and makes the soil better for growing plants.
Food Rescue Around the World
Groups all over the world are working to rescue food and reduce waste. The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to cut global food waste in half by 2030.
Australia
In Australia, about one in six people faced food insecurity in 2022. Australia was the first country to adopt the goal of cutting food waste by 50%. The Australian government helps support food rescue efforts.
Australia's main food rescue group is OzHarvest. It works with over 3,000 food donors and 1,800 charities. OzHarvest has provided over 210 million meals. You can find locations using their online tool. OzHarvest was started in 2004 by Ronni Kahn. She saw how much food was wasted at events. Kahn also helped change Australian laws in 2005. This made it easier for groups like OzHarvest to give away food without legal risk.
Canada
Food Banks Canada is a national charity for food banks across the country. In 2022, one in five Canadians (20%) said they had gone hungry. University students in Canada are especially at risk. A 2021 survey found that over half of students (56.8%) experienced food insecurity.
Second Harvest Toronto started in Toronto, Canada, in 1985. They began by working with restaurants, then expanded to get donations from larger distribution centers. Second Harvest partners with big companies like Loblaw's, Canada's largest food retailer. Loblaw's has donated over 1.5 million pounds of extra food. Second Harvest also has "Harvest Kitchens" that use donated food to make meals. These meals are given to seniors, homeless people, and children. Some kitchens even train volunteers in cooking skills.
The Second Harvest Food Rescue App connects businesses with extra food directly to local charities. Leftovers is another group that started in Calgary, Alberta, in 2012. It has grown to other cities. These groups help improve people's health by providing good, nutritious food.
France
The French government has made laws to reduce food waste. Since 2012, large companies that produce organic waste must recycle it. In 2016, France made it a law that supermarkets must donate their unsold food instead of throwing it away.
United States
The EPA estimated that in 2015, the USA produced over 39 million tons of food waste. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supported the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals to cut food waste by 50%. In 2018, 20–40% of produce in supermarkets was thrown away just because it didn't look perfect, even if it was good to eat.
Many food rescue groups and volunteers across the United States pick up and deliver food. They use refrigerated trucks when needed. The food goes to groups that help people with low incomes. Sustainable America has an online directory called The Food Rescue Locator to find these groups. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also has a Hunger Hotline at 1.866.3.HUNGRY.
John van Hengel started the world's first food bank, St. Mary's Food Bank, in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1967. He also created a national network for food banks called Second Harvest, which later became Feeding America. Feeding America now includes over 200 regional food banks.
Other well-known food rescue groups include The Farmlink Project, Food Rescue US, La Soupe in Ohio, City Harvest in New York City, and Philabundance in Philadelphia. The Society of St. Andrew is a volunteer group that works with farms to glean (collect) leftover crops.
Feeding America estimates that food insecurity grew by 50 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic. One in five Americans sought help from food banks during this time. City Harvest reported that food pantries in New York City served about 3.5 million visitors each month in 2022. This was a 69% increase from 2019.
Groups like Waste No Food and Food Rescue US use apps to tell charities when and where extra food is available. 412 Food Rescue in Pittsburgh is even testing using autonomous cars (self-driving cars) to pick up and deliver food. This could help when there aren't enough drivers.
See also
- Feeding America
- Freeganism
- Food Race
- Garbage picking
- Love Food, Hate Waste
- Pending meal
- United States Department of Agriculture
- Upcycling
