Tuesday, June 19, 2012

India Starts Private Food Banks for Poor

Nirmala Ganapathy, Asia News Network (The Straits Times), New Delhi, India | Tue, 06/19/2012

India has started its first Western-style food bank, which will collect excess food from weddings and parties to feed the poor in a country that is home to almost half the world's undernourished children.

The Delhi government and the non-profit Indian Food Banking Network opened the first food bank this month, with two warehouses to store food and 15 donors lined up, including corporations and retailers.

Initially, it will distribute packaged food and food items such as grains, pulses, oil and spices, followed by cooked food.

The goal is to create a nationwide network of food banks.

“We have been contacted by most of the five-star hotels in the city, and corporate canteens have approached us. There is a lot of opportunity. But our biggest challenge is food safety,” said Kuldip Nar of the Aidmatrix Foundation, a technology non-profit organization and a part of the Food Banking Network.

Read the full story at The Jakarta Post

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