While surplus food
redistribution has been promoted as a way of reducing food waste and
food poverty, a paper published recently in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
concludes that unless a distinction is drawn between genuine waste to
be recovered and surplus to be redistributed for community benefit,
surplus food as a resource is unlikely to be fully utilised.
Informed by an
exploratory qualitative case study of third sector actors in north east
England, the study explores the logics of surplus food redistribution.
The framings and qualities ascribed to surplus foods as they flow
through the food chain are examined. This research challenges the idea
that food surplus is beyond the market and suggests that practices of
distribution are never independent of their original market quality.
Maintaining such quality within surplus food distribution processes is
difficult and such challenges currently have to be overcome through
agreements between charities and the food industry.
As suggested by Dr.
Jane Midgley from Newcastle University, 'surplus food redistribution is
often presented as a solution to food insecurity and food waste. But my
research suggests that without greater guidance from government this
will continue as an ad-hoc arrangement between the food industry and
charities which may not adequately address either problem.' The
research recommends that greater understandings of the values and
qualities associated with surplus food and how the tensions surrounding
these are managed is essential if surplus food is to be used as a
potential resource to improve food security and other current food
system pressures.
Free access is currently available to ‘The logics of surplus food redistribution’ by Jane L. Midgley
