In South Africa, more than 10 million tons of good quality, edible surplus food is either lost or wasted throughout the supply chain annually, while nearly 30 million people experience moderate to severe food insecurity on a regular basis each month.

Reducing food loss and waste is the third most effective solution for fighting climate change. FoodForward SA’s foodbanking model is a cost-effective solution to addressing food insecurity while saving the environment. For every ton of food, we recover, 4 tons of greenhouse gas emissions are saved (WWF, 2018)

South Africa does not have a policy to govern food donations. A Food Donations Policy will allow us to recover quality, within date food from farmers, post-harvest handlers, manufacturers, and retailers, and redistribute this food to improve food security at the household level and end malnutrition.

There is a perception that surplus food is expired or inedible food. This is not the case. Because of various supply chain factors, surplus food may not good enough to sell, but it is still good enough to eat. Surplus food can be recovered and repurposed to address widespread food insecurity in South Africa.