Local and international efforts in reducing food wastage

Local and international efforts in reducing food wastage

Local and international efforts in reducing food wastage have recently escalated as people fathom the magnitude of food waste as well as its contribution to global warming and greenhouse emissions. Dachner & Tarasuk Naomi’s article, diverting food waste to charitable food programs will not address food insecurity in Canada, focuses on the proposals on how to solve food wastage and address; food insecurity. Dachner & Tarasuk maintains that using food charities to address food insecurity and food wastage is ineffective since it fails to address the major root causes of insecurities and the voluntary organization lacks the capacity and resources to address the growing and large problem of food security in Canadian households.

According to Dachner & Tarasuk, the notion of solving food insecurity in Canada using the promotion of food donation by private sectors and community organizations is misguided. Irrespective of the factor that corporate food waste should be min9mized, Dachner & Tarasuk raises concern ion the amount of food going into landfills could be salvaged if there was an increase in donation. Additionally, she argues uses report findings that show that people with food insecurity rarely make use of food banks and charitable organizations which make it hard for such a program effectively address food insecurity.

Dachner acknowledges that charitable food organizations have forged and are still forging partnerships with food retailers, manufacturers and producers to collect any safe and edible leftovers. As a result, many territories and provinces have Good Samaritan legislation that absolves corporate donors of any liability for the safety and health of the food donated. Bachner observes that such legislation does free donors to make donations that rarely comply with Canadian standards of food. Therefore, such legislations and measures aiming at stimulating or increasing donations are not required. Based on evidence-based on an American study, Dachner & Tarasuk & Tarasuk discourages any legislation and measures that aim at increasing food donation since it is not sufficient in addressing the question of food insecurity. Illustratively, in America, America made massive investments in charitable and public food assistance programs but still food insecurity in the states supersedes that of Canada.

To offer an insight into why food charities cannot solve Canada’s food insecurity, Dachner & Tarasuk reviews the state of food insecurity in Canada. She reports that about 13% of Canadian households face food insecurities due to financial constraints. She observes that food insecurity has a close relation with low income which erodes individuals’ health setting a platform for hosting health and mental issues. Supporting her position using research findings, she argues that food banks and food charity are unable to solve the food insecurity issues since only a quarter of households with food insecurity make use of food banks and those who do not utilize these programs are considered to be food secure. The authors vividly show how ineffective is food charity ion solving food insecurity since only a less portion of access to the services or program.

It has been suggested that food charities and food banks offer short term aid to those in need of food facing food insecurity. However, these benefits are only ephemeral. The authors cite that long-term food charity programs tend to face various limitations hence making the programs a less suitable solution for food security. Apart from that, the author observes that food banks and food charity organizations also lack the required capacity to meet the short term needs. Food banks are dependent on food donations hence all they have to offer is what they receive. This makes the assistance or aid offered by food banks and food charity organizations significantly low to change food-insecure families meet their food and other basic needs. Notably, various organizations rely on voluntary labor who face various responsibilities. Additionally, the factor that most food banks operate twice or once a week, makes it less effective in solving the issue of food insecurity.

Dachner & Tarasuk’s article enables the audience to understand the various challenges and weaknesses of food banks and food charity programs in addressing food insecurity. The authors use statistical reference and study reports to show the ineffectiveness of the programs which make their article factual. The article is well organized and clear in its address which makes it easy to understand the message. Apart from that, the format of the article enables readers to understands the role of food banks and their function in addressing food insecurity. By focusing on the state food insecurity in Canada, the readers understand the scope and magnitude of food insecurity and why food banks and charity programs cannot be effective in addressing the issue. The authors conclude by restating the reasons why food banks cannot be effective in addressing food insecurities citing lack of resources, failure to address the cause of food insecurity and the inability to handle surplus or massive donations without facing constraints in resources like funds needed to expand handling, storage, and distribution of food. The authors conclude by discouraging the government and public sector from considering food banks as an option of solving food insecurity.