Discussions

We, as community have to do something about large amount of food that is wasting every evening from large grocery stores . They can feed many needy families. They need to go to soup kitchen or Samaratian house not being dumpt in the garbage can. Tonight, I saw that all the left bulk buns were going to the garbage can. When I asked the manager those buns could go to needy people, the response was, "probably they are dried out by now and nobody wants them". That is not true. They were in the containers few second before and people had to pay to buy them. They were perfectly fine. Each one bun could prevent one child from going hungry to bed tonight.  
People can be volunteer to take the buns from grocery stores and take them to the soup kitchen or something.  
That happens in most stores from bread to prepared chicken .  
What are the thought of other people on this? Do we have to let them waste so much food in each store? What can be done to use those food and sending them to needy ones?  
 
Edited by Deb1, 2019-01-03 22:31:36

My thought is that any charitable organization has a right, and maybe even a responsibility, to ask stores about the availability of leftover product. At the same time, I believe every store should respond, without being criticized, following their beliefs or directions from above.

If the thought is heavy on your mind then talk to the store managers. Get their contact info and pass it onto the managers of the Soup Kitchen, Samaritan House, and whatever other parties that care for the homeless. Sounds like you have a passion to help out and I wish there were more like you that see the issue.

CBC Marketplace did a story & a followup story on just this subject. Contact them & see if they might do another to put pressure on the upper management of the stores in question.

They also do this at a big box store on the north hill with their holiday items. They put them in the crusher instead of discounting them further or donating so they can get full compensation back from headquarters. Shouldn’t there be an environmental law against discarding useful food and other goods? It’s so wasteful

It is sad, it truly is.  
 
I used to work at a small town coop store. I have to say the effort made to reduce waste was excellent. Fruit was made into fruit cups, meat was frozen and sold st a discount price, bread was made into breadcrumbs or thrown in the freezer and donated to the local churches. Cooked chickens were made into chicken salad sandwiches. The staff was given waste items to take home to feed to their livestock (pigs, chickens etc).  
 
It’s unfortunate that so much goes in the garbage.

I know for a fact that some stores do donate their left over bread to the soup kitchen.

My understanding that at least part of the problem would be that local food banks, etc won't take expired/past best before date foods. So the breads that go into the bin at the end of the day have technically reached their "best before" date and can't be accepted even if they were donated.  
 
IMO that's part of the problem. My family eats expired food all the time - a canned good that's already been on the shelf for 2+ years won't suddenly be bad a month past the best before date - but the food banks are crying for donations and won't accept them. I understand some logic to this, otherwise they might be overwhelmed with expired food (I'm assuming??), but I suspect that's part of what's driving this.

Abbysmum - you are correct about the best before dates and not being able to take those donations. Manitoba Health monitors the soup kitchen just as much as any eating establishment and wouldn't hesitate to shut them down due to a violation. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing, but it explains why they have to be picky about food donations.

This past October I actually enquired with the director of the food bank for Samaritan House Ministries about them taking expired food and to my surprise they do accept it! The gentleman told me that they have a list of what is usable until when for different expired items.

The expired food myth . . . I suspect that to originate from the retail perspective. Even though I know almost for certain that no legal liability exists for "things happen" experiences once the food leaves their hands, even those that donate are hesitant when it comes to items beyond the best before dates.  
 
Expired. Best before. That is a whole other learning curve.  
 
Either way, I know this from experience. I've had to pitch more than my fair share of good sealed (but dated) food for a number of reasons. Reason 1 is it happens (some things don't sell). But then there is also, inefficiency. From lack of rotation to not keeping track of what's stored when prepping new orders.  
 
This waste troubled me, so I always deflected to supiriors. After that failed, I did what I could to do the right thing. In a nutshell, I knew what was going to end up as a write off anyway, so I ensured it went to the food bank instead of the compactor.  
 
Awareness would really help.  
 
For one, for business. It should be crystal clear where the legal liabilities lie. For consumers, one should learn the difference between "expired" and "best before".  
 
And for both, there is the matter of having too much on hand. I made an effort to not buy more holiday food than I needed, but STILL overestimated. Not by much, but none the less.  
 
It's a multi-pronged issue, requiring action from all involved parties. But given the right attention, it's an issue that can be resolved.  
 
Easily.

A point I'd like to make related to this. The food bank is a great place and has saved me and many I know from starving many times. I've been on provincial Disability for 10+ years. (yes actually disabled, not a leech) However, it has it's limitations.  
 
People seem to think and always suggest the food bank for people in poverty situations., but it isn't the one stop cure all some people seem to think it is. "Just go to the food bank duh!" etc.  
 
First off, you can go to the food bank once every two weeks for a hamper. Secondly, they can not afford and never have been able to actually give you near enough food for two weeks. For a single person about two grocery bags, mostly canned goods, breads, dry goods. No refrigerated items, few bulk items, no meat besides canned or lentils etc. I'm not blaming them in any way, they help as much as they can with the donations they get, but you definitely need to supplement it heavily with other sources.  
 
Now I'm an average man 6 feet 200 lbs and can survive off of rice and beans when I have to. Have many times. am right now for the next week. I'm NOT extravagant in my tastes nor over eat.  
 
The foodbank in Brandon is constantly struggling to keep up with demand and the population and poverty in Brandon is only getting worse. I've been homeless. (5 years ago now) I know very well how much good food gets thrown out by these grocery stores for reasons I'll let you figure out. It would be awesome if more of it could make it's way to the food bank. I try not to use the food bank too often, like 3 or 4 times a year, because I know others are in way worse situations in Brandon then I am and need it more. I use it when I absolutely have to.  
 
Just some thoughts that I don't see talked about too often.

The suggestion that volunteers go around & pick up grocery donations isn’t practical. There’s simply isn’t enough volunteers. And to do something every day, is a job.  
 
In fact Samaritan House has paid delivery drivers that do pick up, almost daily, from select grocery stores. Meat is not one of those items though. Perishibilty + liability is the issue.  
 
Some retailers do much more than others to GIVE to our community. Others just focus on what they can take. In my opinion.

Another comment brings another thought to mind.  
 
This city has always had a hidden homelessness issue. And these days, an increasingly hard to ignore drug epidemic.  
One can't help but wonder if this aloof attitude of a seeming majority contributes to the tight controls in terms of what our food banks have available. After all, we're dealing with 2 vulnerable groups which tend to be associated with stimas.

Was at Sobey's West Friday and there was a Samaritan House van there with a large quantity of items in the back. I am assuming it was donated goods.  
Have also seen trucks collecting food at Safeway. So it appears that there is an effort to help. Good on them!

In France, it is now LAW that grocery stores have to give unsold products to charity instead of garbaging it. But money talks, and big companies figure employees will mark products down as "waste" that are fine, and then keep it. That is why my last place of employment kept strict tabs on waste anyway.  
My rebuttal to that is... If an employee is so desperate for that food then they are in need too. I prefer to believe in the goodness of people.