Look at the news from Knows reporter Willowy
2020-09-24 19:12
Food banks collect "excess" food and distribute it to those in need. 5 years ago, the country's first food bank appeared in Shanghai, after 5 years of exploration, what about the current food bank? Can it effectively avoid "waste on the tip of the tongue"? Take a look at the news of the News Reporter's investigation by a Knights reporter.
Vegetables and fruits that have been removed from the shelves after the sale deadline in the supermarket the night before, refrigerated for one night, and the next morning, they will appear at the food bank outlets in the community, waiting for people in need to pick them up.
At 7:00 a.m., the food bank outlet on Tangqiao Street was already lined up, and each person could receive two varieties of vegetables and fruits for free. Food is received by both residents in need and sanitation workers.
"Come and get it every day, and I sweep the floor next door."
"Sometimes grapes and fruits are very good, and it takes forty or fifty yuan to buy outside."
Foods that have passed the sales period in supermarkets do not mean that they have expired, but they may not be so fresh, or they are close to the shelf life, and usually supermarkets will sell them at a discount, and then they can only be destroyed. Li Bing, the founder of Oasis Food Bank, once did a survey and initially estimated that there may be waste ranging from 5 to 15% in the food circulation link.
So overseas first have the concept of "food bank", some companies will be linbao food free of charge to public welfare organizations, and then distributed to the community, reduce waste at the same time, but also help the needy people.
However, this concept has not been in China for a long time, in 2015, some supermarkets wanted to donate linbao food to the people in need, but did not find a public welfare organization to operate, and finally donated to a nursing home. In 2016, there were also "shared refrigerators" in Shanghai, but there were also cases where food was not collected by people who were really in difficulty, and donations from well-wishers were not stable.
It is precisely because of this that since 2015, Li Bing has begun to build the first food bank in China. However, many companies at that time had concerns, and it was not easy to find the right fixed donor.
Wang Mingjie, who is in charge of contacting the company at the food bank, told the News News reporter that the biggest difficulty is that there are fewer materials, "If we take the initiative to contact the company, the probability of success is not high." ”
For enterprises, there are concerns about donating temporary insurance products, "The company feels that if I want to take out some of these temporary insurance things, will I be criticized by others, saying that you are a fake public welfare, or that he will feel that his brand image is affected." Li Bing said.
In this regard, over the years, the food bank has also gradually established a set of whole-process traceability system, which records the relevant production and operation licenses of the donor, the production date and shelf life of the food, when it is put into storage and when it accepts donations, etc., to ensure the safety of the food circulating to the hands of residents, and also to reassure the donation enterprises.
"In the case of bitter melon, for example, we only sell it here for two days, and a bitter melon has a shelf life of more than two days, and if it is not sold, it will be taken off the shelves and then left for the food bank tomorrow morning." Liang Yongfang, Deputy Director of Operations of Orezi (China), introduced.
With this system, the German supermarket finally made up its mind to establish a long-term relationship with the food bank, "such a public welfare partner is actually very difficult to find, we also want to choose a trustworthy, professional and correct enough process to find the right beneficiary." ”
Ge Jiamei, a staff member of the Oasis Food Bank, recorded the food circulation process in detail, "For example, you donated me a bag of rice, where did the rice go, I can see it on this platform." ”
In order to ensure that the donated food can reach the hands of those in need in the community, the food bank is also multi-pronged. In addition to opening up food bank collection points in the community, there are also shared refrigerators like the Ehai Community, where residents scan their ID cards and press the corresponding buttons to drop out, but an ID card can only be collected once a day.
Sun Hongling, secretary of the Landong Residential Area in Tangqiao Street, introduced: "Originally, these elderly people were very frugal, and they felt very good about this kind of behavior. ”
Another part of the food is sent by volunteers from the street to the low-income and needy households in the jurisdiction. With the increasing number of donations in recent years, more and more groups have benefited.
In the past five years, the concept of saving food has been recognized by society, and food banks have been constantly exploring, so that the entire operating system has continued to mature.
Li Bing, founder of Oasis Food Bank, said: "How to make everyone realize through different logos that if this date is not up to date, this food cannot be eaten, it may be slightly inferior in taste and nutrition, and some more scientific identification methods like this can dispel the concerns about the advent food." ”
In the past five years, the food bank model has rescued 7.08 million tons of food and assisted 720,000 people across the country. Of course, this model is still being explored and improved, and I believe that with the gradual opening of food warehousing, logistics, supply and demand docking and other processes, more forces will join in.
(Look at the news Knows reporter: Yang Liuyi Editor: Fan Yanfei)