Restaurant left-overs could safely feed the needy!

Food waste is a massive global problem...and homelessness is another one...

A friend of mine told me the other day that when he moved to London he couldn't stand seeing homeless people on the streets and not help them out, but after a while the change in your pocket runs low and it becomes impossible to give money to every person who can't afford a home. This is a widely-debated topic too, what do they do with the money?

So he used to go to the supermarket and get a few loaves of bread and other ingredients to make a bunch of sandwiches and walk around the streets giving them to homeless people. Not only did they get a meal, but he was able to make friends in a new city.

This story warmed my heart much like when I heard what this non-for profit New York City-based organisation, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, is doing bycollecting hundreds of tonnes of edible leftover food from local restaurants, and giving it to the homeless. Not only do they rescue food from restaurants and cafes, they also collect data on every item they save, which helps the restaurant owners better manage their food waste. Rescuing Leftover Cuisine encourages restaurants to use smartphone apps that will alert rescuers when they have food to donate. These are the kind of real life superheroes that everyone should be.

Up to 30% of food we buy in our homes is wasted, at an estimated national cost of $5 billion-plus a year. Restaurants and supermarkets are even worse. At least one third of food produced for human consumption is lost globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tonnes per year.

According to Civil Eats, it is a myth that food retailers will get sued if they donate food that makes someone sick. Apparently companies are protected by the 1996 Good Samaritan Food Act, which removes the legal risk involved when giving food products away to the needy. Thus, there is nothing stoping restaurants and supermarkets donating the food they will not use.

With 925 million people or 13.6% of the worlds population officially classed as malnourished, starving or food insecure, food waste has to stop. Plus, it's more than just the food which goes to waste. The water, nutrients, energy and more that go into producing it get wasted too.

Restaurants and supermarkets will not sell or use food that is past its best-before dates, however, the 'best before' date simply indicates that the product may lose some of its quality after the date passes, but it is still completely safe to eat after the date, as long as its not damaged, deteriorated or perished. Therefore, if restaurants won't use it, I'm sure the 13.6% of malnourished people in the world would happily eat it.

Food waste is a serious problem, and any action helps! Try this in your own community, or even just by yourself with your leftovers. It's literally killing two birds with one stone, you're reducing food waste and feeding people in need.