Inside look at the inspiring work of a food rescuer
Staggering 1.3 billion tons of food is lost per year globally — as per report by Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations. In India, it is estimated that around 40% of food is wasted. And almost half of this is after it had reached the kitchens.
The moment one thinks of cooked food being wasted, immediately images of people not having access to adequate nutrition comes to mind. India has highest number of malnourished people in the world, and pockets of people with less access to nutrition are always in close proximity. So It appears logical that if someone can just connect the two by collecting the excess and delivering to the deficit, we can find a perfect solution. But it may not be as simple as it sounds.
I had a conversation with Shristi Jain, co-founder of Feeding India, who is successfully doing this at a massive scale. The discussion revealed the insider details of the daily challenges her organization faces and the clockwork precision that goes in rescuing food.
The source of cooked food waste
The hotspots of cooked food waste
The biggest sources of cooked food waste are the places where large gatherings of people are served food. These include large events such as weddings and corporate events, political rallies, corporate cafeterias, factories, supermarkets etc. The other smaller sources are restaurants and household kitchens.
The main cause of food waste is the mismatch of supply with the demand. The caterers almost always prepare a little extra than expected demand — to be on safe side — but often the turnout is lower than planned. Shristi estimates that in a planned gathering of 1,000 people, unserved food typically comes around 300 meals.
What can be rescued and what can’t be?
The leftover cooked food in any gathering is of primarily two types: one that is unserved and leftover in the bain-maries, and the other is that is left uneaten in the plates. Only the former can be rescued for hygienic reasons and the latter goes into other forms of processing such as composting of bio-gas formation. The food rescued is completely untouched and fit for consumption.
When does it become worth rescuing?
The thumb rule of minimum size when a unserved food becomes worth rescuing is a meal of 50 persons. This pretty much leaves out most of the restaurants and the households from this because the cost of rescue becomes much larger than the food being rescued.
How does the rescue process work?
The nodes planning
At the core of it, this is a logistics operation. The rescue team identifies “hunger spots” in the cities they operate and at the same time identify the “supply spots”. These are then matched for excess food transfer. But it takes much more than just identification of these spots to match them effectively. Not every “hunger spot” can or is willing to accept rescued food. The pick up and donation points need to be not only in close proximity, but also should match in terms of timings.
Supply and Demand planning
If supply and demand both fluctuate everyday, it would be a nightmare to plan each day’s deliveries. So how does it work? Feeding India solves this problem by working with several NGOs and other social organizations and “adopt” several hunger spots, whom they serve every single day. This way they have managed to fix around 80% of their total demand.
For supply also, there are several venues which are the everyday sources of excess food. While the supply at individual source may fluctuate both in quantity and contents, when aggregated, they form a reasonably consistent source of food.
To add to this, they help their adopted centers with basic infrastructure of refrigeration, storage and re-heating facilities to serve with a short time gap.
Pick-up, delivery and quality control
Just under 86 dedicated vehicles in 30 cities are on duty 24x7 to pick up and deliver food. These vehicles are fitted with necessary features to maintain the food temperature and ensure the quality of food throughout. A heavy use of tech enables the picking of food from more than 300 locations and delivery to their targeted destinations within a short period of time while ensuring quality control in the process.
Regulatory challenges
While it is a fairly complex logistical challenge, the bigger challenge is lack of any regulatory framework that recognizes such solution. Unlike many countries, there is ‘good Samaritan law’ in India which can safeguard a food donor from liabilities. It is only recently that FSSAI has allowed food to be donated but still there is no law protecting any of the involved parties from any liabilities that may arise.
To enable operations without a legal umbrella, the organization provides a ‘hold harmless’ protection to the food donors which exempts them from any liability arising. Besides, they have created their SOPs in consultation with FSSAI, caterers, nutrition and others experts which goes beyond the mandated requirements.
Food waste is a big problem but can be solved
A waste is a waste only if it is wasted. Food waste is a big challenge but it can be solved. What is needed is to analyze it with the same rigor by which we would analyze any other corporate challenge. It needs to be measured and reduced as much as possible. Beyond that, small changes in process can enable that food to be rescued and be still transported to where it can be consumed. The portions that cannot be consumed can be treated and processed, nutrients extracted and remaining can be converted into energy and manure.
