If acute hunger is here to stay, what’s the nature of the infrastructure Birmingham could put in place to ensure reliable food supply delivery to all our citizens in the future?
The answers to that question will be explored at a workshop we’re hosting in the next couple of months.
Here’s one thought from the summary of a Commons Select Committee report Food security: Demand, consumption and waste published in January 2015:
Work by charities and others to redistribute surplus food via foodbanks is welcome but the amount redistributed is pitifully small in the context of the amount of food that currently goes to waste.
Whilst local approaches, driven by community-based organisations, can best meet locally specific needs, national approaches are needed to deliver a step-change in the amount of surplus food diverted from all parts of the supply chain to feed those in need.
Defra must lead joined-up, national approaches. The Department should appoint a Food Security Co-ordinator, one of whose key roles would be to bring together key agencies and support the development of effective systems to distribute far greater volumes of food that would otherwise go to waste.
(Image from The Hunger Project UK)