Woolworths supermarkets, together with the Hon Jenny Macklin MP, Federal Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, is launching a year long campaign to rescue a record amount of surplus food from the waste stream and turn it into meals for the needy.

With a target to provide two million meals for those in need and $2 million for those who serve them, this extensive program aims to address an underlying social problem in Australia. The Australian Government will partner with Woolworths to advise on the allocation of the funding.

Each year households, retailers, restaurants and businesses throw out millions of tonnes of food which then finds its way into landfill sites. Although not always fit for sale, much of it is good quality and could easily be rescued and turned into nutritious, healthy meals for the needy or vulnerable in our society.

In Australia today, more people than ever before are dependent on the generosity of over-stretched charities to put food on their table. Organisations such as Foodbank, OzHarvest, FareShare, Food 4 Life and SecondBite and others work hard to turn excess food into nutritious meals for the homeless, the vulnerable and the needy. These charities are primarily staffed by volunteers and only have limited resources to provide the help that is so desperately required. Food is not the only thing they need; the sector is also in need of vehicles, storage, refrigeration and other facilities to maintain and expand their operations.

Woolworths' director of supermarkets, Greg Foran, said, "Woolworths recognises that we have a significant role in ensuring that fresh edible food, which for various reasons, we can no longer sell is put to the best possible use by turning it into meals. However, it is also very important for us to support the charities providing those meals and our $2 million grants scheme should go a long way towards building their capacity. Therefore, Woolworths wants 2010 to be the year in which Australia gets serious about food waste and serious about helping the charities who convert the food we cannot use into meals for those who need them."

The Woolworths Fresh Food Rescue campaign will support food relief charities at two core levels:

1) Expanding food rescue and food donation schemes from Woolworths stores to charity groups. With 687 supermarkets already participating in some kind of food rescue program, Woolworths wants to substantially increase its partnerships with local food relief charities or soup kitchens. Woolworths' target is to turn its food surplus into two million meals for the needy in 2010.

2) Building additional capacity amongst charity groups through a major grants scheme Woolworths will contribute $2 million to help charity groups expand their operations and ensure thousands more people can access healthy, nutritious food.

Woolworths is itself working toward an ambitious target to reduce organic waste to zero by the year 2015. In 2009 the company donated 1.35 million kilos of consumable food - the equivalent of 1.5 million meals.

Woolworths is actively seeking new charity partners to work with local stores right across the country.

Woolworths will be consulting with a number of current charity partners to understand how the grant scheme can best address their needs. Further details, criteria and eligibility will be released later in the year. Enquiries can be made by email - freshfoodrescue@woolworths.com.au.

Source: Woolworths