What is Food Recovery and
Gleaning?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the terms "food recovery" and "gleaning" refer to programs that collect excess wholesome food for delivery to hungry people. Gleaned and recovered food can provide nutritious additions to the diets of millions of Americans that are facing food shortages.
According to the USDA, there are four basic types of food recovery, which they describe as follows:
- "Gleaning" (i.e., harvesting) excess food from farms and orchards;
- Salvaging perishable produce;
- Food rescue; and
- Collecting processed, nonperishable food.
1. Gleaning
Gleaning involves either hand picking or mechanical harvesting of nutritious food from farms or orchards. For example, one food recovery organization, the Society of St. Andrew, retrieves donated produce from a field or packing house, and then ships it across the United States. In the past, this organization has gleaned more than 200 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to assist those in need.
2. Salvaging perishable produce
Often, wholesale food markets and retail grocery stores are unable to sell all of the fruits and vegetables they are selling, even though the products are still ripe and wholesome. Rather than allow the produce to perish, one organization, From the Wholesaler to the Hungry, has helped more than 60 communities establish programs to rescue fresh fruits and vegetables, and re-direct them to food assistance organizations.
3. Food rescue
According to the USDA, "food rescue" refers to the retrieval of surplus food from restaurants, corporate cafeterias, and caterers, so that the food does not go to waste. One of the greatest challenges in this process is to ensure food safety through the proper storage and refrigeration of the collected food. Foodchain is a national food rescue organization that collects and safely distributes rescued food to food assistance organizations.
4. Collecting processed, non-perishable food
Much of our food supply comes in the form of canned and boxed goods that have been processed, are not easily perishable, and usually have long shelf lives. Food manufacturers, grocery stores, and even people's homes, often accumulate an excess of these goods. A good way to make use of any excess supplies of these goods is to donate them to those in need. Second Harvest, the largest charitable hunger relief organization in the United States, is a leader in the collection of nonperishable foods.
How much food is wasted in the United States?
According to a 1997 USDA study, approximately 96 billion pounds (i.e., over 25%) of the nation's total production of 356 billion pounds of food that is produced for human consumption in the U.S. each year, is lost at the retail and food service levels.
What national food recovery initiatives currently exist?
The USDA has taken a variety of steps to promote food recovery, including the following:
- Working with the National Restaurant Association to produce a food recovery handbook for its members;
- Helping hunters to donate venison to food banks;
- Empowering schools to donate excess food from the National School Lunch Program; Encouraging airlines to donate unserved meals;
- Working with the Department of Transportation to develop a comprehensive way to transport recovered foods;
- Working with the Department of Defense to excess food; and
- Providing technical assistance to thousands of community-based groups and private citizens across the country who seek to help.
How are food donors protected by law?
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996 provides uniform national protection to citizens, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that, in good faith donate, recover, or distribute excess food. The act encourages the donation of food and grocery products to nonprofit organizations, such as homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and churches for distribution to needy individuals.
Basically, the act states
that, except for instances of gross negligence or intentional
misconduct, persons, gleaners, and nonprofit organizations shall
not be subject to civil or criminal liability arising from the
nature, age, packaging or condition of apparently wholesome food
or apparently fit grocery products received as donations. The act
also establishes basic standard definitions pertaining to donation
and distribution of nutritious foods, and helps to assure that
donated foods meet all quality and labeling standards of federal,
state, and local laws and regulations.
What can we do to promote food recovery?
The USDA provides a range of suggestions for promoting food recovery:
Businesses and corporations can start or join a food recovery program. They can also donate excess prepared and processed food to local food recovery programs; donate transportation, maintenance work, or computer services; and prepare legal information on "Good Samaritan" laws, food safety, and quality.
Food service professionals can organize a food drive and donate food to a local food bank or pantry. They can also donate excess prepared food from restaurants or catered events; and assist organizations in training their volunteers in safe food handling practices.
Nonprofit organizations can work independently, or with other organizations, to recover food. They can also support or develop a community or regional coalition against hunger; plan tours of food recovery facilities; and make their communities aware of hunger and poverty problems and what people can do to address them.
Youth service groups and volunteer organizations can work on their own, or with other organizations, to recover food. They can also organize essay, oratorical or art contests on hunger for schoolchildren, or sponsor a community garden that gives part of its harvest to food banks, soup kitchens, and other food recovery programs.
Individuals can volunteer at a food recovery program. They can also attend food safety training sessions to prepare for volunteering in a soup kitchen or shelter. They can also suggest that organizations and employers sponsor food recovery programs; join or form a community walk or run to benefit a food recovery program; and/or organize and/or donate to food drives.
What resources are available to promote food recovery?
There are a range of organizations, at both the state and national levels, that can provide more information about food recovery and gleaning, including how to set up an effective program. These include the following organizations:
A. Mississippi Organizations:
Society of St. Andrew
- Telephone: (601) 932-4870
Twelve Baskets Food Bank (part of the Second Harvest network)
- Address: P.O. Box 1457, Biloxi, MS 39533
- Telephone: (601) 388-6881
The Gleaners, Inc. (part of the Foodchain network)
- Address: 395 North Mart Plaza, P.O. Box 9883, Jackson, MS 39286-0883
- Telephone: (601) 981-4240
Mississippi Food Network (part of the Second Harvest network)
- Address: 440 W. Beatty Street, P.O. Box 411, Jackson, MS 39205
- Telephone: (601) 353-7286
- Fax: (601) 948-6710
USDA Farm Service Agency - Mississippi State Office
- Address: 6310 I-55 North, P. O. Box 14995, Jackson, MS 39236-4995
- Telephone: (601) 965-4300
- Fax: (601) 965-418
B. National Organizations:
USDA Food Recovery and Gleaning Initiative
- Telelphone: 1-800-GLEAN-IT
- Web: www.usda.gov/glean.htm
The Chef and the Child Foundation
- Telephone: (904) 824-4468 Ext. 104
- Web: www.acfchefs.org/ccf
Congressional Hunger Center
- Telephone: (202) 547-7022
- Web: www.hungercenter.org
Foodchain
- Telephone: 1-800-845-3008
- Web: www.foodchain.org
From the Wholesaler to the Hungry
- Telephone: (213) 342-2613
Second Harvest
- Telephone: (312) 263-2303
- Web: www.secondharvest.org
Society of St. Andrew
- Telephone: 1-800-333-4597
- Web: www.endhunger.org
The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by Mississippi State University.