There’s no doubt most food banks are spending more money to purchase food these days, though there are a handful outliers that spend virtually nothing on food. During Covid, almost all food banks began purchasing more food when donated goods were tough to come by, and government funding and donated…
Posts published in “Food Rescue”
A series of small changes has enabled Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County to whittle away waste in its operations, making it the first food bank in the world to be certified for its sustainability efforts. The food bank has received a TRUE certification for zero waste, signifying that…
In 2019, when Food Bank News first reported on Feeding America’s MealConnect, the app was being used by 22 food banks and had helped rescue 1.5 billion pounds of food over five years. Now, virtually all of Feeding America’s 200 food banks are using the app, and it helped rescue…
Food banks have plenty of experience accepting donated food that arrives in a jumble, or is close to expiring, or is not so healthy. Now it’s becoming easier to get highly desirable food that is convenient, nutritious, and even arrives at the warehouse in an organized manner. Technology firms specializing…
The idea of rescuing surplus produce from farms and bringing it to food banks is not a new one, but it usually happens on a local level. The Farmlink Project is taking the practice national. Started in 2020 by a group of college students, Farmlink has activated a nationwide network…
Just about every week, the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School fields questions from organizations that are concerned about their liability related to donated food. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, passed in 1996, was designed to encourage…
Food banks in California and New York are preparing for a potential uptick in donations as grocers, restaurants and other food producers comply with new state laws that require them to donate surplus edible food, rather than send it to landfills. These laws, which went into effect January 1, are…
Share Food Program’s acquisition of Philly Food Rescue last month highlights an increasing trend of food banks turning to food rescue as a way of diversifying their sourcing. Share Food Program, an independent food bank based in Philadelphia, will incorporate the operations and technology of Philly Food Rescue into its…
A service that lets home gardeners donate their excess produce to hunger relief organizations has expanded from 23 zip codes in 2019, to 985 zip codes currently. A mobile version of the service, which was introduced last year and helps coordinate transportation of the donated produce, helped propel that expansion.…