Australian Institute of Food Safety Partners with OzHarvest

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

The Australian Institute of Food Safety (AIFS) launched a new meal donation program this week, with every student enrolling onto a nationally recognised course triggering a donation of one or two meals to people in need through OzHarvest.

Thousands of food workers are trained by AIFS each year, and current estimates predict between 10,000 and 15,000 meals will be donated in the first twelve months of the program. Every food worker that enrols onto a Food Handler course will trigger a donation of one meal, and every food worker that enrols onto a Food Safety Supervisor course will trigger a donation of two meals.

The meal donations will be made in the form of a cash donation to OzHarvest at the end of each month. OzHarvest will use the funds to collect unwanted food from cafes, restaurants and other food businesses and will then donate the collected food to people in need throughout Australia.

Food waste and hunger are serious issues in Australia. It’s estimated that $10 billion of food is wasted every year, yet 1 in 10 Australians rely on food aid. In 2015, OzHarvest donated over 11 million meals to people in need.

The meal donation program was a natural progression in the institute’s existing relationship with OzHarvest, says Executive Director, Stuart Hilditch. “The team at AIFS have been volunteering with OzHarvest for a few years and the more we see of the work they do, the more we want to help,” Mr Hilditch said. “It was only a matter of time before we introduced a program such as this one,” he added.