Rescued Food Helps Feed Muscatine’s Hungry
January 15, 2015
For a variety of reasons, grocery stores, restaurants,
farmers markets and gardens often find themselves
with a surplus of healthy food that they are unable to
sell. Food rescue initiatives channel this extra food to
meal sites and food pantries, thereby reducing waste
and helping feed hungry people.
A new collaboration in Muscatine rescues a weekly
average of 4,000 pounds of food, valued at $96,000,
without any new source funding. Food is collected
from Hy-Vee, Hy-Vee Mainstreet, Fareway and Pizza
Ranch. It goes to the Muscatine Community Food
Pantry, Pearl City Outreach and the Salvation Army.
Successful food rescue initiatives must master the logistics of communication (connecting groups with
surplus food to groups needing food) and transportation (moving the food).
The Muscatine Blue Zones Food Policy Group, which launched the food rescue initiative in April
2014, manages the logistics of communication between organizations. Transportation is
accomplished through the dedication of fourteen volunteers, supported by the Volunteer Center at the
United Way of Muscatine.
More information about national food rescue best practices is available through the Food Waste
Reduction Alliance.
Table to Table, a 30-year-old food rescue program in Iowa City is a go-to source for Iowa best
practices. Table to Table provided the model for the food rescue initiative in Muscatine and is also
advising an effort by Eat Greater Des Moines to improve the coordination of food rescue efforts in
central Iowa through the use of the “Food Cowboy” mobile app.
For more information on Table to Table, please contact Mr. Bob Andrlik at [email protected] or
319-337-3400. For more information about Eat Greater Des Moines, please contact Ms. Aubrey
Alvarez at [email protected] or 515-491-1891.
Page | 59