Sami Abdel Raouf (Dubai)
The Emirates Food Bank announced that the “One Million Meals of Surplus Food” campaign achieved its final goal within just two weeks, following providing one million meals in cooperation with more than 200 campaign partners in the country, noting that the campaign aims to reach two million meals until the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The “One Million Meals of Surplus Food” campaign is part of the initiatives in support of the “Billion Meals” initiative organized by the “Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives” to provide food support to the poor, needy and vulnerable groups of children, refugees, displaced people and those affected by disasters and crises in 50 countries.
The “One Billion Meals” initiative, in cooperation with the Emirates Food Bank, organized yesterday a tour for journalists and the media, to see the mechanism of collecting, storing, packaging and distributing meals, which are provided to the needy in many countries of the world, in the warehouses and refrigerators of the El Bakraoui Commercial Company, one of the supporting bodies. .
The Emirates Food Bank confirmed that the campaign is continuing, even following it recorded, in just two weeks, 133 percent of its declared goal, achieving the equivalent of more than 1.3 million meals distributed to beneficiaries from needy individuals and families.
Meals from hotels and restaurants accounted for 11% of the campaign’s total achieved within two weeks, while hot meals prepared from food supplies provided by the campaign partners constituted 9%, and food parcels, vegetables and fruits represented 80% of the total provided by the campaign.
joint efforts
The Emirates Food Bank is participating in its campaign “One Million Meals of Surplus Food” with 200 strategic partners from hotels, food establishments, supermarkets, vegetable and fruit markets, central kitchens and charities in the country, including more than 55 hotels, 65 food establishments, 35 supermarkets, vegetable and fruit markets, and 13 From charities, and 10 central kitchens, with the participation of more than 150 volunteers.
The “Million Meals of Surplus Food” campaign also continues to provide a range of innovative environmentally friendly solutions that transform unusable food leftovers following they have been sorted into organic compost, as well as transform cooking oils into biofuels in cooperation with the startup company “Relube”, which specializes in circular economy applications and recycling.
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Daoud Al-Hajri
work in progress
Daoud Al-Hajri, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Emirates Food Bank, said: “The campaign of one million meals of surplus food organized by the Emirates Food Bank has achieved its final goal and exceeded it by more than 30% in just two weeks, which reflects the values of giving established in the UAE society and its economic activities and business sectors.”
He stressed that this support and cooperation with the private sector constitutes qualitative support for the One Billion Meals initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai “may God protect him”, noting that the Emirates Food Bank will continue with the directives of His Highness Sheikh’s campus Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Her Highness Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, Supreme Chairwoman of the Emirates Food Bank Foundation, the campaign during the coming period to provide more food support to the needy and preserve the blessing of food.
innovative solutions
In turn, Sarah Al Nuaimi, Director of the Office of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, said: “The Billion Meals initiative is the largest of its kind in the region to provide food support to the needy and the poor in 50 countries around the world, and to contribute to finding innovative solutions to address the hunger challenge that threatens more than 800 million people.”
She pointed out that the Million Meals of Surplus Food campaign highlights the possibility of creating easy solutions to the challenge of wasting 1.3 billion tons of food, which costs the world more than a trillion dollars, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and turn it into an opportunity.
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Sarah Al Nuaimi
Campaign Initiatives
The “Food Surplus” campaign includes 4 sub-initiatives, namely “Kitchens of Goodness”, the collection of surplus food prepared and fit for consumption from breakfast buffets, the Ramadan basket for fruits and vegetables, and the Ramadan Mir. The Ramadan Meer initiative also collects basic foodstuffs from cooperative societies, supermarkets and retail stores to Emirates Food Bank warehouses and then packs them in baskets containing basic foodstuffs required to prepare meals and then distributes them to the beneficiaries, where 800,000 parcels and food baskets were distributed until right Now.
For his part, Dr. Issam Al-Hashemi, member of the Steering and Operation Committee of the Emirates Food Bank and director of the Food Trade Control Department in Dubai Municipality, spoke regarding the mechanism of collecting, packaging, storing and distributing foodstuffs that are collected for the benefit of the “One Million Meals of Surplus Food” initiative.
He pointed out that meals are received from companies and agencies cooperating with the campaign, and they are checked and ensured of their quality, and they are classified in rooms according to the type and type of fruit or vegetables, according to the type of product and the appropriate temperature for the product, following sending it to the Emirates Food Bank. In turn, Imran Bakri, Director of Sales at Al Bakrawi Commercial Company, indicated that the companies cooperating with the Emirates Food Bank implement an agreed-upon mechanism with the bank, to deliver the donated vegetables and fruits, whereby the bank’s daily surplus is benefited from, in accordance with approved quality specifications and standards.
