Only one subject has repeatedly beaten Brexit off the news headlines over the past 12 months and that’s the housing crisis. Homelessness caused by a critical shortage of housing and lack of security in the rental market is impacting the lives of tens of thousands of people. And not just in Dublin but right across the country.
Side by side with this crisis is the harsh reality that many people cannot afford to properly feed their families; while at the same time it’s estimated that up to one million tonnes of perfectly good food goes to waste in Ireland every year.
There have been attempts to match this food need with excess food availability and they have met with some success. However, FoodCloud and FoodCloud Hub, two interconnected social enterprises established by Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward in 2013 have brought the concept to a whole new level.
Alan Gannon, centre, who works at the Galway FoodCloud hub. \ Aengus McMahon Photography
What is FoodCloud?
FoodCloud is a social enterprise that connects businesses with too much food to charities that can use it, as Aoibheann explains: “On the one hand, you had all this perfectly good food going to waste and on the other hand there were charities struggling to support their local communities. They needed to be connected.”
So how does FoodCloud work? A partner supermarket or café has perfectly good food it cannot sell so it uploads a description of the food to the FoodCloud app. A local charity that is linked to the supermarket or café through the FoodCloud app gets a note saying food is available. If it matches their needs, they collect and distribute it.
“It’s a win-win situation,” says Aoibheann. “Charities have access to a supply of high-quality food and businesses can contribute to their communities in a meaningful way.”
Globally, almost 30% of food produced is wasted. That is a land area equivalent to 900 times the size of Ireland. Here at home it’s estimated that up to one million tonnes of good food goes to waste every year.
FoodCloud’s charitable work helps avoid this shocking waste. “In the case of potatoes and other vegetables you are looking at misshapen produce or produce with mechanical damage or some sort of blemish. But they still taste great and there is nothing wrong with them,” says Aoibheann in reference to produce they receive from Meade Potato Farm, which is just one of the many businesses supporting the work of FoodCloud. In Galway alone they work with over 200 food businesses. This partnership delivered 400 tonnes of food to 70 charities producing 800,000 meals. “This has happened in just two years, so we are only getting started.”
A ‘no-brainer’ says Minister Creed
FoodCloud has distribution hubs in Dublin, Cork and Galway. After two years in operation, the Galway hub was recently launched by minister for agriculture Michael Creed. He heaped praise on the initiative, saying if this food didn’t go through FoodCloud Hubs it would end up in landfill. “This is a fantastic initiative, a no-brainer. It is absolutely the right thing to do,” he said. Minister Creed described food waste as a global scandal, especially in the context of countries such as Sudan where people are dying of starvation. He said it is incredible that a third to a half of all food produced is wasted.
“Think about the land mass required to produce all that food. In water terms alone, it’s equivalent to all the water needed to sustain every household on the planet. The greenhouse gas emissions of the wasted food production is equivalent to the third-biggest gas emitting country on the planet.”
Working together
Musgraves, the wholesaler behind SuperValu and Centra supermarkets, has been involved with FoodCloud since 2014 and is its biggest donor. According to head of communications Edel Clancy, they haven’t sent any food to landfill in 10 years.
“The issue of food surplus was always a concern for us. We were donating surplus food to charities but it was all a bit ad-hoc. FoodCloud’s solution of linking the retailer with charities made it a natural partner for us.”
In 2017 this translated into 130 tonnes of good food being sent to FoodCloud Hubs, which is the equivalent of 260,000 meals. Since the start of their partnership with FoodCloud, Edel estimates that Musgraves has donated 500 tonnes of surplus food, which is the equivalent of one million meals.
For more, see www.food.cloud or email food@foodcloud.ie
Minister Michael Creed speaking at the launch of the FoodCloud Galway hub. \ Andrew Downes
Alan Gannon is one of just two people who work at Galway’s FoodCloud Hub. His background is in deliveries and he says this job is the most satisfying he’s ever had. He organises food deliveries all around Galway city and county, as far north as Ballina, east to Mullingar, south to Limerick and everywhere in between.
Alan has three vehicles on the road and he works with 30 charities, including Cope, Simon Community and St Vincent de Paul.
“We also work with the likes of addiction treatment centres, homeless services and breakfast clubs. If our deliveries can save them €5,000 on their food bill, they can reinvest those savings in frontline services. We select a route every day and schedule as many calls as we can. Our deliveries include fresh, ambient, chilled and frozen food. We have full traceability with our own in-house health and safety expert who vets everything.”
Alan says he has no idea what will arrive in the hub from one day to the next. “Some of the produce is regular but most of it comes with a phone call telling us what’s available and we rarely say no to anything.”
Alan hopes the publicity from the launch of the Galway Hub will help attract new donors and volunteers.
Only one subject has repeatedly beaten Brexit off the news headlines over the past 12 months and that’s the housing crisis. Homelessness caused by a critical shortage of housing and lack of security in the rental market is impacting the lives of tens of thousands of people. And not just in Dublin but right across the country.
Side by side with this crisis is the harsh reality that many people cannot afford to properly feed their families; while at the same time it’s estimated that up to one million tonnes of perfectly good food goes to waste in Ireland every year.
There have been attempts to match this food need with excess food availability and they have met with some success. However, FoodCloud and FoodCloud Hub, two interconnected social enterprises established by Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward in 2013 have brought the concept to a whole new level.
Alan Gannon, centre, who works at the Galway FoodCloud hub. \ Aengus McMahon Photography
What is FoodCloud?
FoodCloud is a social enterprise that connects businesses with too much food to charities that can use it, as Aoibheann explains: “On the one hand, you had all this perfectly good food going to waste and on the other hand there were charities struggling to support their local communities. They needed to be connected.”
So how does FoodCloud work? A partner supermarket or café has perfectly good food it cannot sell so it uploads a description of the food to the FoodCloud app. A local charity that is linked to the supermarket or café through the FoodCloud app gets a note saying food is available. If it matches their needs, they collect and distribute it.
“It’s a win-win situation,” says Aoibheann. “Charities have access to a supply of high-quality food and businesses can contribute to their communities in a meaningful way.”
Globally, almost 30% of food produced is wasted. That is a land area equivalent to 900 times the size of Ireland. Here at home it’s estimated that up to one million tonnes of good food goes to waste every year.
FoodCloud’s charitable work helps avoid this shocking waste. “In the case of potatoes and other vegetables you are looking at misshapen produce or produce with mechanical damage or some sort of blemish. But they still taste great and there is nothing wrong with them,” says Aoibheann in reference to produce they receive from Meade Potato Farm, which is just one of the many businesses supporting the work of FoodCloud. In Galway alone they work with over 200 food businesses. This partnership delivered 400 tonnes of food to 70 charities producing 800,000 meals. “This has happened in just two years, so we are only getting started.”
A ‘no-brainer’ says Minister Creed
FoodCloud has distribution hubs in Dublin, Cork and Galway. After two years in operation, the Galway hub was recently launched by minister for agriculture Michael Creed. He heaped praise on the initiative, saying if this food didn’t go through FoodCloud Hubs it would end up in landfill. “This is a fantastic initiative, a no-brainer. It is absolutely the right thing to do,” he said. Minister Creed described food waste as a global scandal, especially in the context of countries such as Sudan where people are dying of starvation. He said it is incredible that a third to a half of all food produced is wasted.
“Think about the land mass required to produce all that food. In water terms alone, it’s equivalent to all the water needed to sustain every household on the planet. The greenhouse gas emissions of the wasted food production is equivalent to the third-biggest gas emitting country on the planet.”
Working together
Musgraves, the wholesaler behind SuperValu and Centra supermarkets, has been involved with FoodCloud since 2014 and is its biggest donor. According to head of communications Edel Clancy, they haven’t sent any food to landfill in 10 years.
“The issue of food surplus was always a concern for us. We were donating surplus food to charities but it was all a bit ad-hoc. FoodCloud’s solution of linking the retailer with charities made it a natural partner for us.”
In 2017 this translated into 130 tonnes of good food being sent to FoodCloud Hubs, which is the equivalent of 260,000 meals. Since the start of their partnership with FoodCloud, Edel estimates that Musgraves has donated 500 tonnes of surplus food, which is the equivalent of one million meals.
For more, see www.food.cloud or email food@foodcloud.ie
Minister Michael Creed speaking at the launch of the FoodCloud Galway hub. \ Andrew Downes
Alan Gannon is one of just two people who work at Galway’s FoodCloud Hub. His background is in deliveries and he says this job is the most satisfying he’s ever had. He organises food deliveries all around Galway city and county, as far north as Ballina, east to Mullingar, south to Limerick and everywhere in between.
Alan has three vehicles on the road and he works with 30 charities, including Cope, Simon Community and St Vincent de Paul.
“We also work with the likes of addiction treatment centres, homeless services and breakfast clubs. If our deliveries can save them €5,000 on their food bill, they can reinvest those savings in frontline services. We select a route every day and schedule as many calls as we can. Our deliveries include fresh, ambient, chilled and frozen food. We have full traceability with our own in-house health and safety expert who vets everything.”
Alan says he has no idea what will arrive in the hub from one day to the next. “Some of the produce is regular but most of it comes with a phone call telling us what’s available and we rarely say no to anything.”
Alan hopes the publicity from the launch of the Galway Hub will help attract new donors and volunteers.
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