Ben Pearman, General Manager Europe & Australia, General Mills and
Lindsay Boswell, Interim CEO, European Food Banks Federation
In 2022, 8.3% of the EU population struggled to afford a meal, that includes meat, fish, or a vegetarian equivalent every second day (Eurostat, 2023). Food affordability has become a growing source of concern with rising prices resulting from extreme weather episodes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s war in Ukraine. At the same time, in the European Union in 2021, nearly 59 million tonnes of food waste (131 kg/inhabitant) were generated with an associated market value estimated at 132 billion euros (Eurostat, 2023).
Reliance on Food Banks is also on the rise. In 2022, European food charities reported a 20% to 30% increase in demand—with few countries exempt. In the UK, the number of users has risen to nearly 2.9 million (the highest since records began) while over a third of Germany’s 962 food banks have had to stop taking new applicants beyond the 2 million people they already help.
The list of countries facing similar challenges goes on.
The central role of Food Banks
These figures underline the central role Food Banks play in community food security—both day-to-day and during crises. And as they struggle to keep pace with skyrocketing demand, the private sector can help provide the financial and operational support required to scale up their vital work.
General Mills has seen first-hand the incredible impact of public-private collaborations. Through the partnership with FEBA, General Mills has supported various anti-hunger organisations in delivering 35.5 billion meals worldwide since 2019, exceeding the goal of 30 billion we set ourselves for 2030. This is helping alleviate the short-term pressure on individuals, families and households across Europe, many of whom often don’t know where the next meal is coming from.
Long-term thinking
But food insecurity is a long-term problem requiring long-term solutions. As well as getting food on the world’s tables today, we need a system that works more fairly, consistently and sustainably tomorrow.
To build it, we must address the broader social and economic factors that jeopardise food security across generations. Crucially, we must do so together, using events like this month’s FEBA Annual Convention to unite organisations in understanding the growing barriers to food access and developing a clear plan for how to overcome them.
One of the most significant and urgent of these challenges is tackling waste. In the EU, we throw away nearly 59 million tonnes of food every year, costing around 132 billion euros. Globally, around a third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted (Eurostat, 2023). Food that could and should go to the hungry.
By delivering education campaigns that help people understand the environmental and social impacts of their food choices and adopt better consumption habits, we could slash these figures almost overnight. This, in turn, would boost the resilience of the food supply chain and shrink the industry’s climate footprint.
Equally important is the need to create better systems for recovering and redistributing surplus food to people who need it via charitable organisations. This should take precedent over existing processes that see large amounts of food suitable for humans used for livestock feed, compost and energy generation instead.
We must also invest in targeted programmes that address food deserts (urban areas where it’s difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food) while improving access to safe, edible food in underserved communities.
The change we lead
Of course, all this must be backed by an effective and progressive policy environment. Governments must do more to create legislative frameworks that incentivise food donation, make redistribution the preferred option for edible surplus and clearly define hygiene and food safety standards to guard against waste.
But this is not the time to wait for the next political action or regulatory requirement. Individually and collectively, the food industry must be ready to step up and deliver. The world is hungrier than ever and through our consumer reach, supplier influence and investment power, we have the means and the opportunity to feed its future. The change we need is the change we lead.
