Food saving moves commended

Voluntary initiatives to avoid food waste by organisations such as BiaFood and FoodCloud have been commended by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.

He said he recently visited the BiaFoodInitiative regional hub in Little Island, Cork, the first of three planned hubs, to accept and redistribute large volumes of surplus food to an industry standard, using the latest software technology to track and trace all product movements from the point of entry to the end user, via a strong voluntary organisation model.

He said, “BiaFoodInitiative have met Tesco, who are providing equipment and some other support.

“The Department of Social Protection is supporting staffing of the hub and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has provided advice on carrying out the business in a safe way in compliance with the food regulations, given that such organisations come under the definition of a food business in the general food law.

“In March, BiaFoodInitiative joined Bord Bia’s online Origin Green Platform , which provides access to a network of over 400 companies, who could include this as a waste reduction measure in their Origin Green action plans.”

Speaking in the Dail, Mr Coveney said FoodCloud connects businesses that have too much food to charities in communities that have too little. “Using the FoodCloud app, or the website, participating businesses can upload details of their surplus food and the time period in which the food can be collected.

“This automatically sends a text message to the most appropriate charities in their community. The first charity to accept the offer collects it directly from the business.”

“By donating surplus food to various charities, businesses can assist them in reducing their food costs and therefore allow them to redirect funding to programmes assisting those who are disadvantaged, creating long tangible and long lasting local benefits.

“Following a successful pilot programme, Tesco Ireland and FoodCloud last year announced a partnership that will see all surplus food from Tesco’s stores redistributed to charities and community groups through the use of FoodCloud’s innovative app.”

Mr Coveney said, “There is much to be said for promoting voluntary engagement by the industry with such initiatives before consideration by Government on whether legislation is appropriate.”

In contrast, the French government recently forced supermarkets to donate any unsold and edible food to charity or for use as animal feed.

Mr Coveney was responding to Finian McGrath, TD, in the Dail.