World Food Day is celebrated annually on 16 October to commemorate the founding date of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1945 and was introduced at the FAO’s 20th General conference in November 1979. World Food Day is observed in over 150 countries and raises awareness of critical issues relating to hunger, poverty and food insecurity that affects over 870 million people globally.
In light of World Food Day, the South African Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) declared October as Food Security Month in October 2014 to draw attention to food insecurity in our country.
FoodForward SA is proud to contribute towards alleviating food insecurity in South Africa by recovering quality edible surplus food from the supply chain and redistributing this food to over 560 charities that reach nearly 280,000 people daily by implementing a cost-effective, practical and innovative approach to eradicating food insecurity that affects 28 million South Africans.
World Food Day allows FoodForward SA the opportunity to inform the public of our commitment to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 of achieving Zero Hunger and an opportunity to celebrate our progressive efforts in alleviating hunger and food insecurity. The theme for World Food Day 2019 is Healthy Diets for a #zerohungerworld. FoodForward SA’s strategies to eradicate hunger in South Africa include FoodShare, our digital platform that virtually connects beneficiary organisations to retail stores for surplus food collections; Second Harvest, our outreach programme to farmers for agri surplus; Mobile Rural Depots, increasing access of food to vulnerable rural communities; School Breakfast Programmes; and our very own accredited Supply Chain Youth Internship, which are all proving to be highly effective.
This year, FoodForward SA will celebrate World Food Day with an exciting event at the Cape Quarter, Green Point on 16 October. Our programme has already begun with food drives currently ongoing at various schools and corporates, and this will culminate on World Food Day with the handover of the donated non-perishable food items at the Cape Quarter.
FoodForward SA ambassador and acclaimed chef, Jenny Morris, will be accompanied by fellow celebrity chefs, Jamie Rowntree and Justin Bonello, who will prepare delicious meals using only the surplus food that we collect. Our event promises to be spectacular and we anticipate a bumper crowd of schools, donors and the general public who will attend.
World Food Day is a fantastic platform for FoodForward SA to showcase our amazing work and incredible initiatives that provide the perfect foundation to drive our mission: “To reduce hunger in South Africa by safely and cost-effectively securing quality food and making it available to those who need it” and brings us closer to realising our vision of “A South Africa Without Hunger”.