Giving surplus supermarket food to charities will not solve hunger or waste problems, a new paper has claimed.
Published by the Food Research Collaboration at City University, the study found that a large-scale system of food donation could actually have negative health and social consequences for those in need, and does not help cut food waste.It argues that the negatives of food redistribution outweigh its short-term benefits.
The problems of food waste and food insecurity must be treated as separate issues by politicians and the media, with systematic solutions developed for each problem, the study found, while food policy solutions should focus on disincentives to the production of waste, such as landfill taxes and not offering tax rebates on donated food.
Author Martin Caraher said: “Solutions to food waste and food insecurity are not to be found in redistributing food surplus and waste from supermarkets to emergency food aid outlets. This is not addressing the rights of the poor and needy to an appropriate and healthy diet.
“When taking into account the available data, we argue the negatives of this kind of donation system outweigh the positives. While in the short term the redistribution of food waste to emergency food aid providers may provide immediate relief, there is no evidence to show that it addresses food insecurity.”
The study concluded that the government should consider the “impracticality, morality and distraction” of redistributing surplus food and should instead address the structural, root causes of poverty.
Some of the key conclusions from the paper are that:
– Legislation requiring retailers to give away surplus food is a short-term fix and not a way to address hunger, citizens’ social rights to food or their nutritional needs.
– Giving away surplus food will not fix the dysfunctional food system, address environmental problems, provide incentives to reduce surplus or cut waste in the long term.
– Support for redistribution would absolve the UK government of its moral obligation to provide social security and move responsibility onto charities and businesses.
– A supply of food from supermarkets is unpredictable and beneficiaries would be determined by the individual interests of charities.
To address food insecurity, the study said only a comprehensive social security provision can provide a solution, arguing the government must ensure that benefit delays and sanctions do not lead to families seeking aid from food banks and that the gap between income and food cost is closed.
As background context, the study said that 30 per cent of food grown around the world is never eaten, and that the UK discards ten million tonnes every year.
Meanwhile, current discussions about corporate food donations in Westminster have been prompted by France and Italy approving legislation that requires supermarkets to give surplus products to charity, it found.
The idea of introducing similar legislation in the UK was supported in the Feeding Britain report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger and Food Poverty.
On 18 January, MPs quizzed supermarket directors about their current redistribution efforts at an Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee meeting on food waste.
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