Food Recovery and Rescue
November 10, 2016
One solution to combating food insecurity in our country and within our communities, is through food
rescue and recovery efforts.
Food Recovery or Rescue is best defined as “the process of collecting donated food from restaurants,
caterers, and other food service providers, and distributing that food to people in need through local
social service organizations”. Food Recovery is targeted at providing recipients with food products
that are nutritious and wholesome, thus providing community members with substantial meals.
In 2015, 42.2 million Americans were food insecure. Last year, 1 in 8 Iowans were food insecure,
meaning they lacked reliable and sustainable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable and
nutritious food. Our states statistics become even more startling when we look to our children as 1 in
5 children in Iowa are food insecure.
Food rescue is a dual solution as it not only combats food insecurity in our communities, it also
combats the environmental and economic issues that result from food waste. Each year in the United
States we waste 30 - 40% of the food supply and it was estimated that an equivalent
of $161 billion was thrown out in 2010. In Iowa, our landfills are made up of 13.3% food waste and the
largest category for municipal solid waste in our states' landfills is food waste.
In some instances the belief of liability becomes an immovable barrier for businesses becoming
involved in donating their excess food. To help combat this risk, there is a federal law in place that
protects businesses from civil and criminal liabilities called ‘The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act.’
The Act provides businesses with the opportunity to donate their excess food to nonprofit
organizations. Not only is food rescue beneficial to our communities, it allows businesses to cut costs
as it reduces the dependency of waste removal.
Another barrier to food rescue efforts is reliable and sustainable transportation. Transportation is the
needed bridge between donors and recipients, but can oftentimes be the reason connections aren’t
made. By introducing the availability and regularity of transportation, connections between donors
and recipients can become sustainable and more effective.
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