Exploring social impacts of food surplus redistribution

A. Inza-Bartolomé; L. Escajedo San-Epifanio

Exploring social impacts of food surplus redistribution

In: EurSafe2024 Proceedings

Authors:

A. Inza-Bartolomé

A. Inza-Bartolomé ¹Department of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Labour Relations and Social Work, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Los Apraiz Street 2, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

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L. Escajedo San-Epifanio

L. Escajedo San-Epifanio ²Department of Constitutional Law and History of Political Thought, Faculty of Labour Relation and Social Work, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), PO Box 644, Bilbao 48080, Spain

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 32–37

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004715509_006

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Dar Hadith al Hassania

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Concern for the efficiency of the food system is fundamental, given that the waste of food also involves the waste of all the resources used to produce it: water, land, energy, etc. Currently, there are measures so that part of this production that could be wasted can be used to respond to the food insecurity of people in vulnerable situations. For example, European Union launched in 2014 the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), whose main purpose is breaking the vicious circle of poverty and deprivation by providing non-financial assistance to vulnerable people in the EU. In 2020, FEAD supported almost 15 million people with food. Likewise, the food industry redirects part of its surpluses to food aid resources, which has a positive impact in terms of corporate social responsibility, they get tax deductions, it saves them the money it would cost to send them to the landfill, the costs of storage and transportation, etc. The main tool to redistribute food surpluses are food banks.

At the same time, the recommodification of these donated food products and/or that would otherwise be wasted in a secondary circuit, has given rise to a new charity economy (Kessl, et al., 2020), a system of free distribution of surplus basic goods or sold at discount prices to people who can no longer participate in the market economy. Although this secondary circuit of using food that could otherwise be wasted represents a contribution to the efficiency of food systems, it is important to observe what type of consequences all this has in high-income countries. Through a logical-critical reflection based on specialized bibliography, this work emphasizes that redirecting surpluses to help people in vulnerable situations has unintended consequences. As a main conclusion, it highlights the fact that not being able to acquire food in a normalized way in contemporary society means stigmatization and reinforcement of exclusion.

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EurSafe2024 Proceedings

Back to the future - Sustainable innovations for ethical food production and consumption

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004715509

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 03 Sep 2024

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Exploring social impacts of food surplus redistribution

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EurSafe2024 Proceedings

Back to the future - Sustainable innovations for ethical food production and consumption

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