By: Kimberly Reed, Executive Director, IFIC Foundation   Date: 6/27/11

On a recent visit to Chicago, I visited with Jeffrey Klein, the new President and CEO of the Global FoodBanking Network (GFN), and some key GFN staff on the important role of nutrition and food safety at food banks.  GFN is an international organization dedicated to creating and strengthening food banks and national food bank networks around the globe. They currently work with food bank systems in 15 countries.

Food banks acquire donated food and grocery products, much of which would otherwise be wasted, from farms, manufacturers, distributors, retail stores, consumers, and other sources, and make it available to those in need through a network of community agencies. These agencies include school feeding programs, food pantries, soup kitchens, AIDS and TB hospices, substance abuse clinics, after-school programs, and other nonprofit programs that provide food to the hungry.  Food banking has broad and instinctive appeal. It feeds people while reducing waste. It empowers through school feeding programs, job training and skills development, and nutrition education.

In an era of rising global food prices and hunger devastating nearly a billion people, it is unacceptable that one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is lost or wasted each year. A new FAO study, “Global Food Losses and Food Waste,” shines a spotlight on the approximately 1.3 billion tons of food that is lost or wasted in both industrialized and developing countries. Much of what is grown, processed, and manufactured is never consumed because of logistical challenges, failure to harvest, post-harvest loss, waste, and inadequate legal and tax incentives for donations.
 
As the world addresses hunger, it is important for commercial and charitable organizations, like GFN, to work together to capture surplus fruits and vegetables and grocery products to our hungry neighbors.  These types private-public partnerships can be efficient and sustainable.  The IFIC Foundation is pleased to offer our knowledge and resources to GFN as it pursues its mission of alleviating world hunger by supporting food banks and food bank networks that provide food that is good in terms of safety, taste and nutritional value.  For more information on the Global FoodBanking Network, please visit www.foodbanking.org.