Australian charities that provide food relief are faced with the negative effects of a combination of adverse factors such as supply chain disruptions, rising living costs due to COVID-19, natural disasters and foreign conflicts.
Ronni Kahn, founder and CEO of Oz Harvest, is a non-profit organization that collects additional food and delivers it to people in need, and for the first time since the collapse of COVID-19, her organization has not relied on donations. He said he had to buy food. out.
She said it was due to supply chain disruptions and a shortage of surplus food on supermarket shelves caused by an additional million people with food security problems.
“We are already feeling the impact of living expenses, COVID, and now another natural disaster means that more and more people need food,” she said on March 9th. I told the press club.
“There is absolutely a place for the (governmental) Food Security Commission so that we can get food in the event of such a disaster … there is room for better preparation at all levels.”
However, Khan said Australian households throw away $ 3,000 ($ 2,195) worth of unconsumed food each year.
She also emphasized that 6 million food-rich Australians experienced food insecurity at some point during the year.
“If we are fighting for waste, on the one hand, we need to increase, educate and minimize the number of people in need of food,” Khan said.
She said Australian homes can avoid wasting food by buying only what they need and not impulsively buying things.
“We stopped valuing food. We are a convenient society, we want fast food, and we really stopped understanding where food comes from.” She said.
“When we run out of (the food we buy), the first is cheaper and the second is that we can prevent large amounts of food from being wasted.”
Report (pdf) From Food Innovation Australia Limited commissioned by the federal government to create a roadmap for reducing national food waste, Australians are 7.6 million tonnes (870,000 tonnes), or 312 kilograms (688) per person. It turns out that we are wasting food (pounds). Every year.
However, 70% of the above foods are still edible, and Australian households waste nearly 18% of the food they buy on average.
There were six categories of foods that make up the majority of food waste: milk, root vegetables, non-root vegetables, fruits, complex products, wine and beer.
To summarize the numbers, food waste from household and industrial activities has brought an astonishing $ 36.6 billion to the Australian economy.
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Alfred Bui is a Melbourne-based Australian reporter with a focus on local and business news. He is a former small business owner and holds two master’s degrees in business and business law. Contact him at [email protected]