Briefs
Identifying and addressing the threats against food recovery and redistribution
Many communities and vulnerable individuals rely on foodbanks and other food recovery and redistribution charities to ensure they have access to enough food to build resilience in their communities, reduce food insecurity and contribute to healthier diets.
Quite often foodbanks are able to distribute processed foods with limited access to highly perishable fresh foods, resulting in nutrient deficiencies of beneficiaries who are dependent on these charitable organizations for their food needs.
Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is recommended that food banks, seek to source and offer, as far as possible, fresh fruits and vegetables and limit the quantities of calorie dense foods in their packages. Currently, this is of utmost importance to ensure that beneficiaries remain in good overall health with fully functioning immune systems to provide the best possible immune response to COVID-19.
With a majority of people around the world now unable to perform exercise due lockdown or closure of facilities, there may be greater risk of Non communicable diseases (NCDs) and so the need to consume healthy diets becomes even more critical