Danone UK & Ireland has announced a new three-year partnership with national charity FoodCycle to deliver the equivalent of more than 200,000 nutritious meals to communities across the UK.
The partnership with the food poverty charity, which redistributes surplus food as meals to those in need, will save at least 88 tonnes of food from going to waste, Danone said.
Danone will also be donating £300,000 to FoodCycle to support with the running of new and existing community projects. And employees will be encouraged to volunteer at one of these projects as part of the company’s unlimited volunteer days programme.
Additionally, the food giant’s UK’s nutritionists and dieticians will work with the charity to deliver nutritional support, such as developing recipes that balance nutritional value with affordability.
Financial pressure
The company said that the partnership was in line with its values that everyone should have access to healthy food that was “particularly pertinent now at a time when many are turning to community-based projects to ease the financial pressure of feeding themselves and their families,” said Hannah Cornick, head of sustainability & social innovation at Danone UK & Ireland.
“It is also why we were passionate that the partnership should include the joint development of recipes and resources, to support FoodCycle in their aim to nourish the hungry, connect communities and promote sustainable, healthy attitudes towards food,” she added.
Research from the charity revealed that two-thirds of people accessing their services cannot afford to buy the food they need while a further 79% of guests thinking their financial situation will worsen this year.
“Many of our projects have already welcomed members of the Danone community into the kitchen as volunteers,” said Mary McGrath, CEO of FoodCycle.
“With this partnership, we look forward to tapping into the business’s 50-plus years of knowledge and expertise in nutrition to support the FoodCycle network with training, recipes and resources.”
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